- Dec 5 Antti Aarne, Finnish folklorist, born in Pori, Finland (d. 1925)
Józef Piłsudski (1867-1935)
Dec 5 Father of the Second Polish Republic who served as its Chief of State (1918-22), Marshall of Poland and later its de facto leader (1926-35), born in Zułów, Russian Empire
- Dec 13 Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (nominated 7 times for Nobel Prize), born in Oslo, Norway (d. 1917)
- Dec 16 Amy Carmichael, missionary in Dohnavur, India (d. 1951)
- Dec 18 Antoon van Welie, Dutch painter, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1956)
- Dec 20 Pudge Heffelfinger, American College Football Hall of Fame guard (3 x All American, Yale; first professional player 1892) and coach (Cal, Lehigh, Minnesota), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 1954)
- Dec 21 John Winter Thompson, American organist, born in Michigan (d. 1951)
- Dec 22 František Xaver Šalda, Czechoslovakian literary critic, born in Liberec, Czech Republic (d. 1937)
- Dec 22 Joseph Maria Olbrich, Austrian architect (Wiener Sezession), born in Opava, Czech Republic (d. 1908)
- Dec 22 Wilhelm Groener, German soldier and politician, born in Ludwigsburg, Germany (d. 1939)
Madam C. J. Walker (1867-1919)
Dec 23 African American entrepreneur (First American self-made female millionaire, Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company), born in Delta, Louisiana
- Dec 24 Kantaro Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan, born in Noda, Japan (d. 1948)
- Dec 24 Manuel de Oliveira Lima, Brazilian writer and diplomat, born in Pernambuco, Brazil (d. 1928)
- Dec 25 Alfred Kerr [Kempner], German-British writer, born in Breslau, Silesia (d. 1948)
- Dec 30 Simon Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1941)
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