List of people from Nizhny Novgorod

This is a list of notable people who have lived in Nizhny Novgorod (1932–1990: Gorky), Russia.

• Macarius of Unzha (1349–1444), Russian Orthodox saint
• Dmitry Pozharsky (1577–1642), Rurikid prince, led Russian forces against Polish invaders in 1611–1612 towards the end of the Time of Troubles
• Kuzma Minin (end of 16th century–1616), Russian National Hero of 1612
• Ivan Kulibin (1735–1818), mechanic and inventor
• Sergei Trubetskoy (1790–1860), one of the organizers of the Decembrist movement
• Nikolai Lobachevsky (1792–1856), mathematician and geometer

• Nikolai Martynov (1815–1875), army officer who fatally shot the poet Mikhail Lermontov in a duel on 27 July 1841
• Pavel Melnikov (1818–1883), writer, ethnographer
• Vasily Vasilyev (1818–1900), sinologist of the Victorian era
• Nikolay Dobrolyubov (1836–1861), literary critic, journalist, poet and revolutionary democrat
• Pyotr Boborykin (1836–1921), writer, playwright, and journalist
• Mily Balakirev (1837–1910), composer, head of The Five
• Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky (1838–1898), painter
• German Lopatin (1845–1918), revolutionary, journalist and writer
• Raphael von Koeber (1848–1923), German-Russian teacher of philosophy at the Tokyo Imperial University in Japan

• Mikhail Matyushin (1861–1934), painter and composer
• Constantin Kousnetzoff (1863–1936), painter
• Vladimir Steklov (1864–1926), mathematician, mechanician and physicist
• Anna Ulyanova (1864–1935), revolutionary and Soviet stateswoman
• Zdzisław Lubomirski (1865–1943), Polish aristocrat, landowner, lawyer, conservative politician and social activist
• Dmitriy Sirotkin (1865–1946), twice city head, millionaire
• Aleksandr Ulyanov (1866–1887), revolutionary and older brother of Vladimir Lenin
• Maxim Gorky (Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, 1868–1936), writer and political activist
• Ivan Bubnov (1872–1919), marine engineer and designer of submarines for the Imperial Russian Navy
• Dmitry Nadyozhny (1873–1945), commander in the Russian Imperial Army who later joined the Red Army
• Alexander Samoylovich (1880–1938), Orientalist-Turkologist
• Leonid Vesnin (1880–1933), leading light of Constructivist architecture
• Sergei Chetverikov (1880–1959), biologist and geneticist
• Mikhail Tetyaev (1882–1956), tectonic geologist
• Alexander Krein (1883–1951), composer
• Zinovy Peshkov (1884–1966), Russian-born French general and diplomat
• Yakov Sverdlov (1885–1919), Bolshevik party leader and chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
• Pyotr Nesterov (1887–1914), military pilot, aircraft technical designer and aerobatics pioneer
• Issay Dobrowen (1891–1953), Russian-Norwegian pianist, composer and conductor
• Nikolay Kolosovsky (1891–1954), economic geographer, economist
• Léon Zack (1892–1980), painter and sculptor
• Nikolai Bulganin (1895–1975), soviet political, Prime Minister (1955–1958), Marshal of the Soviet Union
• Catherine Doherty (1896–1985), Russian Canadian Roman Catholic social worker
• Anatoly Marienhof (1897–1962), poet, novelist and playwright
• Aleksandr Formozov (1899–1973), biologist and environmentalist

• Sergey Lebedev (1902–1974), scientist in the fields of electrical engineering and computer science, and designer of the first Soviet computers
• Vladimir Varankin (1902–1938), writer of literature in Esperanto, instructor of western European history
• Andrei Fayt (1903–1976), film actor
• Alexander Golovanov (1904–1975), pilot, Marshal of Aviation
• Nikolay Bogolyubov (1909–1992), theoretical physicist, mathematician
• Boris Mokrousov (1909–1968), composer
• David Ashkenazi (1915–1997), pianist, accompanist and composer
• Nikolai Khokhlov (1922–2007), KGB officer who defected to the United States in 1953
• Yevgeny Yevstigneyev (1926–1992), soviet actor
• Margarita Nazarova (1926–2005), actress, circus performer
• Yevgeniy Chazov (1929–2021), physician

• Igor Maslennikov (1931–2022), film director
• Valentin Morkovkin (1933–1999), rower
• Konstantin Kharchev (1934), politician, diplomat and ambassador
• Leonid Volkov (1934–1995), ice hockey player
• Igor Zhukov (1936–2018), pianist, conductor and sound engineer
• Vladimir Ashkenazy (1937), Russian-born pianist and conductor of Icelandic and Swiss citizenship
• Yuri Golov (1937–2014), Russian footballer
• German Sveshnikov (1937–2003), Soviet fencer
• Viktor Konovalenko (1938–1996), ice hockey goaltender
• Sergei Novikov (1938–2024), mathematician
• Mikhail Rabinovich (1941–2025), physicist
• Pavel Lednyov (1943–2010), modern pentathlete and Olympic champion
• Valeri Zykov (1944), football player
• Vladimir Denisov (1947), fencer
• Gariy Napalkov (1948), ski jumper
• Tatyana Averina (1950–2001), speed skater

• Sergey Mitin (1951), Governor of Novgorod Oblast since 2007
• Vladimir Kovin (1954), ice hockey player
• Alexander Skvortsov (1954–2020), ice hockey player
• Galina Kakovkina (1957), painter
• Serhii Plokhii (1957), professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard University
• Mikhail Varnakov (1957), ice hockey player
• Gennadi Maslyayev (1958), professional football coach and player
• Sergey Ryabtsev (1958), plays violin and provides backing vocals for the Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello
• Tatyana Shvyganova (1960), field hockey player and Olympic medalist
• Evgeny Sheyko (1962–2020), conductor
• Yevgeny Erastov (1963), writer
• Valery Rozov (1964), BASE jumper
• Ilya Segalovich (1964–2013), co-founder of Russian search engine Yandex
• Andrey Sigle (1964), film producer, film music composer and musician
• Maya Usova (1964), ice dancer
• Natalia Pankova (1965), artist, art manager
• Dimitri Konyshev (1966), former road bicycle racer
• Anatoly Moskvin (1966), former linguist, philologist, historian, and serial body snatcher
• Alexander Baburin (1967), Russian-Irish Grandmaster of chess
• Igor Egorov (1968), football referee and former player
• Dmitri Cheryshev (1969), footballer
• Alexei Ivanov (1969), writer
• Vladimir Kurayev (1969), professional footballer
• Sergei Sorokin (1969), ice hockey player
• Valeri Popovitch (1970), football striker
• Alyaksandr Taykow (1970), footballer

• Vladislav Leontyev (1971), crime figure
• Dmitry Mazunov (1971), table tennis player
• Vladimir Kireyev (1972), football player
• Natalya Sadova (1972), discus thrower
• Aleksei Gerasimov (1973), professional footballer
• Andrej Krementschouk (1973), photographer
• Albert Oskolkov (1973), professional footballer
• Alexander Guskov (1976), professional ice hockey defenceman
• Sergei Nakariakov (1977), virtuoso trumpeter
• Svetlana Ganina (1978), table tennis player
• Evgeny Aleshin (1979), swimmer
• Pyotr Bystrov (1979), association footballer
• Artem Chubarov (1979), professional ice hockey player
• Natalya Bochkareva (1980), stage and film actress, television presenter
• Irina Kotikhina (1980), professional table tennis player

• Nikolay Kruglov Jr. (1981), biathlete
• Igor Yamushev (1981), former Russian professional football player
• Dmitry Aydov (1982), professional association football player
• Vladimir Gusev (1982), professional road racing cyclist
• Yekaterina Kondratyeva (1982), sprinter
• Natalia Vodianova (1982), supermodel, philanthropist and occasional film actress
• Ilya Korotkov (1983), javelin thrower
• Sergey Shiryayev (1983), cross country skier
• Ivan Usenko (1983), Belarusian ice hockey defenceman
• Mikhail Tyulyapkin (1984), professional ice hockey defenceman
• Ekaterina Vilkova (1984), actress of film, theater and television
• Dmitri Kosmachev (1985), professional ice hockey player
• Mikhail Varnakov (1985), professional ice hockey player
• Maria Borodakova (1986), volleyball player
• Denis Kornilov (1986), ski jumper
• Denis Kozhukhin (1986), pianist, winner of the Vendome Prize in Lisbon in 2009
• Svetlana Mironova (1986), orienteering competitor
• Vera Ulyakina (1986), volleyball player
• Anne Vyalitsyna (1986), supermodel
• Artem Lobov (1986), UFC Fighter
• Igor Levit (1987), Russian-German pianist
• Ilya Maksimov (1987), football midfielder
• Ruslan Zakharov (1987), short-track speed-skater
• Nikolai Zhilyayev (1987), footballer
• Vladimir Galuzin (1988), professional ice hockey player
• Valeri Zhukov (1988), professional ice hockey player
• Denis Cheryshev (1990), footballer, Valencia CF forward
• Pavel Karelin (1990–2011), ski jumper
• Dmitri Radchuk (1990), ice hockey player

• Dmitriy Kokarev (1991), swimmer
• Alexander Sharychenkov (1991), professional ice hockey goaltender
• Daniil Trifonov (1991), concert pianist and composer
• Dmitri Karasyov (1992), professional football player
• Ekaterina Pushkash (1992), ice dancer
• Mikhail Maksimochkin (1993), ski jumper
• Rustam Yatimov (1998), professional football player
• Danila Chechyotkin (2000), football player

• Anton Yefremov (2003), football player
• Daniil Shedko (2003), activist
• Dariia Sergaeva (2004), rhythmic gymnast
• Mark Eydelshteyn (2002), actor

• Damaskin (Rudnev) (1737–1795), Russian Orthodox Church bishop
• Alexander Dubček (1921–1992), Czechoslovak politician, in Nizhny Novgorod 1933–1938
• Nikolay Kruglov (born 1950), biathlete
• Nina Makarova (1908–1976), composer
• Anatoly Moskvin (1968), academic and linguist; arrested in 2011 after the bodies of 26 mummified young women were discovered in his home
• Andrei Rumyantsev (born 1969), professional footballer
• Aleksandr Shchukin (1969–2000), professional footballer (1987–1993: FC Lokomotiv Gorky)
• Igor Shelushkov (born 1946), mental calculator; postgraduate at Gorki Polytechnic Institute (now Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University)

As a closed city that was inaccessible to foreign observers, this was a city for internal exiles.

• Andrei Sakharov (1980–1989), eminent Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident and human rights activist, 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner
• Egidio Gennari (1980–1989), Italian exile who left Italy in 1926 due to the repression of the Fascist government and lived in the city

• List of Russian people
• List of Russian-language poets