- May 2 Zygmunt Noskowski, Polish composer, conductor, and pedagogue, born in Warsaw, Russian Poland (d. 1909)
- May 5 Federico Chueca, Spanish composer, born in Madrid, Spain (d. 1908)
- May 5 Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish author (Quo Vadis, Nobel 1905), born in Wola Okrzejska, Poland (d. 1916)
- May 8 Oscar Hammerstein, German-American cigar maker, opera and theater impresario, composer, and playwright, born in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1919)
- May 9 Nicolai Soloviev, Russian music critic and composer, born in Petrozavodsk, Russia (d. 1916)
- May 14 Arnold Kerdijk, Dutch liberal politician (founder Social Weekly newspaper), born in Rotterdam. Netherlands (d. 1905)
- May 14 Pieter Cort van de Linden, Dutch politician (Prime Minister of Netherlands 1913-18), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1935)
- May 17 Edmund Bishop, English Roman Catholic historian and Secretary of Thomas Carlyle, born in Totnes, England (d. 1917)
- May 22 Oliver Perry Hay, American paleontologist, born in Saluda, Indiana (d. 1930)
- May 25 Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet and writer, born in Frashër, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (d. 1900)
- May 25 Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria, born in Buckingham Palace, London (d. 1923)
- May 26 Arthur Coquard, French composer, and music critic (Le Monde; L'Echo de Paris), born in Paris, France (d. 1910)
- May 29 Albert Apponyi, Hungarian politician (Minister of Religion and Education of Hungary), born in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1933)
- May 30 Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian goldsmith and jeweler (famous for Fabergé eggs), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (d. 1920)
20-29
30-39
40-49
50-59
80-89
Over 90