#1Science & Medicine
Duncan McNaughton
1910–1998Athletics competitor
25 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
Famous people · Cornwall, Ontario
69 famous people were born in Cornwall, more of them athletes than in most towns
The best known is the athletics competitor Duncan McNaughton, with articles in 25 languages. The next two names are Newsy Lalonde and Chad Kilger. 22 of them were born between 1946 and 1969, more than in any other period. James McGill Strachan, born in 1808, is the earliest name and Melanie Banville, born in 1987, the latest.
Born here
69
confirmed by Wikipedia
Best known
Duncan McNaughton
25 Wikipedia and sister-site articles
First
1808
James McGill Strachan
Youngest
1987
Melanie Banville
Most common field
Sports
40 people
What stands out about Cornwall’s famous people
★ What stands out · Known for
What Cornwall is known for
Business people stand out most, at 2.1 times the usual share.
Each field is set against the usual town, its share among everyone listed in Canadian towns. Tap one to see who is in it.
Through the years
When Cornwall’s famous people were born
Count by decade and the 1960s come out on top, with 9 births.
SportsPolitics & LawWriting & ArtsBusinessScience & MedicineFilm, TV & StageMusicFaithMilitaryNotable
Dots are people, stacked in the decade of their birth.
The best known
Born in Cornwall
#1NL#2
Sports
Newsy Lalonde
1887–1970Ice hockey and lacrosse player
13 Wikipedia and sister-site articlesWikipedia ↗
#3Everyone
Everyone else born in Cornwall
66 more, 38 of them athletes.
Lennie Goodings
born 1953Canadian-born publisher active in the United Kingdom
Writing & ArtsWikipedia ↗
No one matches both filters.
Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Around it, South Glengarry has the most people on record, 13 of them.
Questions about famous people from Cornwall
Who is the most famous person from Cornwall?
Duncan McNaughton (athletics competitor) comes first, by the number of Wikipedia languages that cover them. Next come Newsy Lalonde and Chad Kilger.
How many famous people were born in Cornwall?
Wikidata places 106 here in all, and those missing from the list lack a confirming article.
What is Cornwall known for?
58% of the list, where Canadian towns come to 38%.
Who is the earliest-born famous person from Cornwall?
James McGill Strachan, born in 1808. The youngest on the list was born in 1987.
Who counts as from Cornwall?
Born inside Cornwall’s municipal boundary (Statistics Canada’s 2021 census subdivision) on Wikidata’s record, with an English or French Wikipedia article to back it up: that is the test, hospitals and districts within the outline included. Someone who just lived here does not pass it, and adult performers and people known mainly for crimes are excluded.
Why is someone missing?
Often Wikidata names only Canada or a province as the birthplace, or a rural area, a hamlet or another town; sometimes the Wikipedia article names somewhere else, or nowhere. A person appears here once both agree, so a correction on either site reaches this page at the next refresh.
Birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations and the count of Wikipedia and sister-site articles come from Wikidata (CC0). Each birthplace is checked against the person’s English Wikipedia article, or the French one where English says nothing or has no article; the articles are linked, never quoted. Wikidata’s Statistics Canada code, the place’s name or its point inside the 2021 census outline puts a birth in a town, and a birth given only as a split city stays on that city’s page. Fields are read from the description and occupations, and the list runs by number of articles. “The usual town” is everyone listed across Canadian towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (16)
- Duncan McNaughton: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives from Canada, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Chad Kilger: Mark Mauno, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Jacob Harold Gallinger: C. V. Buck, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Corbett Denneny: staff photographer, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Carson Cooper: Hockey publicity photo circa 1934 (Life time: pre-1949, copyright expired), Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Don Smith: Imperial Tobacco Co., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Luc-André Bouchard: Gilles Rioux, photographe, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Lionel Chevrier: Arthur Roy, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Bob Charlebois: Vamahoney, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Bones Allen: Stuart Thomson, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Owen McCourt: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Lennie Goodings: Lennie Goodings, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Abercrombie Pringle: Unknown author, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Reddy McMillan: Imperial Tobacco Co., Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Robert Marleau: JGHowes , cropped version of source file, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Remi Elie: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).