- Dec 3 Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist and co-founder (Pillsbury Company), born in Warner, New Hampshire (d. 1899)
- Dec 3 Ellen Henrietta Richards, American chemist (Amer Home Economics Association-1st Pres), born in Dunstable, Massachusetts (d. 1911)
- Dec 3 Phoebe Hearst, American philanthropist and suffragist, born in Franklin County, Missouri (d. 1919)
- Dec 7 Otto Ammon, German anthropologist and sociologist (schedelmetingen), born in Karlsruhe, Baden (d. 1916)
- Dec 9 Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, Russian activist and anarchist, born in Moscow (d. 1921)
- Dec 15 Henry Gadsby, English musician and composer, born in Hackney, England (d. 1907)
- Dec 17 Marius Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician (continuous groups), born in Nordfjordeid, Norway (d. 1899)
- Dec 24 Nicola d' Arienzo, Italian composer and writer, born in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (d. 1915)
- Dec 28 Calixa Lavallee, Canadian composer (O Canada), born in Verchères, British Province of Canada (d. 1891)
Greatest Generation
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Generation Z