- Jan 1 William Clowes, English printer (d. 1847)
- Jan 5 Stephen Decatur, American naval hero (War of 1812), born in Sinepuxent, Maryland (d. 1820)
- Jan 5 Zebulon Pike, American brigadier general and explorer (Pike's Peak), born in Lamington, New Jersey (d. 1813)
- Jan 15 Jean Coralli, French ballet producer and choreographer (Giselle), born in Paris, France (d. 1854)
Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869)
Jan 18 British lexicographer (Roget's Thesaurus) and inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard), born in London
- Jan 22 Stefano Pavesi, Italian opera composer (Ser Marcantonio), born in Casaletto Vaprio, Duchy of Milan (d. 1850)
- Jan 24 Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden), Russian Tsarina (d. 1826)
- Feb 20 Augustus Callcott, English landscape painter, born in Kensington Gravel Pits, England (d. 1844)
- Feb 21 Friedrich Carl von Savigny, German jurist and legal scholar (historical school of jurisprudence), born in Frankfurt (d. 1861)
- Feb 22 Joachim Nicolas Eggert, Swedish violinist and composer, born in Ginst, Rügen Island, Swedish Pomerania (d. 1813)
- Feb 27 Thomas Hazlehurst, English soap and alkali manufacturer (d. 1842)
- Mar 1 Jacob Gottfried Weber, German composer, born in Freinsheim (d. 1839)
- Mar 2 Joel Roberts Poinsett, American statesman (Minister to Mexico, 1825-29; Secretary of War, 19837-41), physician, and botanist, born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1851)
- Mar 6 Philipp Roth, German cellist, and composer, born at Tarnowitz in Prussian Silesia (now Tarnowskie Góry, Poland) (d. 1898)
- Mar 13 Oliver Shaw, early American composer, born in Newport, Rhode Island (d. 1848)
William Lamb (1779-1848)
Mar 15 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Whig: 1834, 1835-41), born in London
- Mar 21 Alexis Garaudé, French composer and pedagogue, born in Nancy, France (d. 1852)
- Mar 28 Angelo Maria Benincori, Italian composer, born in Brescia, Republic of Venice (d. 1821)
- Apr 11 Louise Reichardt, German composer of lieder and scared songs, educator, and choral conductor, born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1826)
- Apr 21 William Knyvett, British singer and composer, born in Westminster, London (d. 1856)
- May 2 John Galt, Scottish novelist (Annals of the Parish), born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland (d. 1839)
- May 25 Hendrik Marcus de Kock, Dutch general and politician (Lieutenant Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies 1826-30), born in Heusden, Dutch Republic (d. 1845)
- May 28 Thomas Moore, Irish poet and musician, born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1852)
- Jul 10 Alois Basil Nikolaus Tomasini, Italian violinist and composer, born in Pesaro, Papal States (d. 1858)
- Jul 15 Clement Clarke Moore, US professor and author ('Twas the Night Before Xmas), born in New York City (d. 1863)
- Jul 20 Ignaz Schuster, Austrian composer, born in Vienna (d. 1835)
- Jul 21 Gottlob Wiedebein, German composer, born in Eilenstedt (d. 1854)
- Aug 1 Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, poet and composer of the lyrics to "Star-Spangled Banner", born in Carroll County, Maryland (d. 1843)
- Aug 1 Lorenz Oken, German naturalist, born in Bohlsbach, Swabia (d. 1851)
- Aug 7 Carl Ritter, German geographer and co-founder of modern science of geography, born in Quedlinburg, Prussia (d. 1859)
- Aug 7 Louis de Freycinet, French explorer and navigator (published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia in 1811), born in Montélimar, Drôme (d. 1842)
- Aug 17 Franz de Paula Roser, Austrian composer and conductor, born in Naarn, Upper Austria (d. 1830)
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen (1779-1852)
Aug 20 Russian explorer who discovered the continent of Antarctica, born in Osel, Estonia
- Aug 20 Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist, born in Linköping, Sweden (d. 1848)
- Aug 22 James Kirke Paulding, American author (The Dutchman's Fireside), born in Pleasant Valley, NY (d. 1860)
- Sep 8 Johann Philipp Samuel Schmidt, German composer, born in Königsberg, East Prussia (d. 1853)
- Sep 8 Mustafa IV, 29th Sultan of Ottoman Empire (1807-08), born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (d. 1808)
- Sep 10 Louis Alexandre Piccinni, Italian-French composer, born in Paris (d. 1850)
- Sep 18 Joseph Story, American lawyer and 19th Supreme Court justice (1812-45), born in Marblehead, Massachusetts (d. 1845)
- Oct 10 Antoine Philippe Vischer, comte de Celles, Belgian-French politician, born in Brussels (d. 1841)
- Nov 4 Jan Willem Pieneman, Dutch historical painter (Battle at Waterloo), born in Abcoude, Dutch Republic (d. 1853)
- Nov 5 Washington Allston, American painter (pioneer of America's Romantic movement of landscape painting) and author, born in Georgetown, South Carolina (d. 1843)
- Nov 6 Michal Bogdanowicz, Polish composer (d. 1830)
- Nov 14 Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, Danish poet (d. 1850)
- Nov 27 Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and statesman, born in Paris (d. 1865)
- Dec 1 Pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov, Russian church composer and choirmaster, born in Kiev, Russian Empire (d. 1856)
- Dec 12 Madeleine Sophie Barat, French saint and founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart, born in Joigny, Burgundy, France (d. 1865)
- Dec 14 Mariano Rodríguez de Ledesma, Spanish composer, born in Zaragoza, Spain (d. 1847)
- Dec 19 Auguste-Gaspard-Louis Desnoyers, French engraver, born in Paris, France (d. 1857)
Year of the Rabbit
Year of the Dragon
Year of the Snake
Year of the Horse
Year of the Goat/Sheep
Year of the Monkey