This is a list of notable people who were either born in San Juan, Puerto Rico or who were not born in San Juan, but who are or were longtime residents of the city. San Juan has been the birthplace and the place of residence of many Puerto Ricans and people who are not of Puerto Rican heritage who became notable artists, military personnel, politicians, scientists and sportsmen; locally referred to as "Sanjuaneros". The following lists some of them and details their occupation:
| Name | Profession |
|---|---|
| Héctor Luis Acevedo | Former Mayor of San Juan and Secretary of State of Puerto Rico |
| Former Governor and Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico | |
| Actor and comedian, known as "Don Cholito" | |
| Ricardo E. Alegría | Anthropologist and archaeologist, known as the "father of modern Puerto Rican archaeology" |
| Manuel A. Alonso | Writer and poet |
| Juan de Amezquita | Member of the Puerto Rican militia who defended Puerto Rico from an invasion by Dutch Captain Balduino Enrico (Boudewijn Hendricksz) in 1625 |
| Ricardo Aponte | United States Air Force General; the first Hispanic Director, J-7, of the United States Southern Command, located in Miami, Florida |
| Félix Arenas Gaspar | Puerto Rican Captain in the Spanish Army who was posthumously awarded the Cruz Laureada de San Fernando, the highest military decoration awarded by the Spanish government, for his actions in the Rif War |
| Juan Alejo de Arizmendi | First Puerto Rican to be named Bishop by the Catholic Church |
| Raymond Ayala | Reggaeton singer |
| Carlos Obed Baerga Ortiz | Major League Baseball player |
| Eddie Benitez | Musician |
| Tomás Blanco | Writer and historian |
| Kristina Brandi | Professional tennis player |
| Giannina Braschi | Poet, novelist, dramatist |
| Sila María Calderón | Former governor of Puerto Rico, Secretary of State and mayor of San Juan; the first female governor of Puerto Rico |
| José Campeche | Puerto Rican visual artist |
| Deborah Carthy-Deu | Miss Universe 1985 |
| Nitza Margarita Cintron | Chief of Space Medicine and Health Care Systems for NASA |
| Celestina Cordero | Educator, in 1820 founded the first school for girls in San Juan |
| Educator, known as "the father of public education in Puerto Rico" | |
| Christian Daniel | Singer-songwriter and actor |
| Pedro del Valle | First Hispanic General in the Marine Corps; played an instrumental role in the capture of Okinawa in World War II |
| Stephanie Del Valle | Model, Miss World 2016 |
| Alberto Díaz, Jr. | Rear Admiral, first Hispanic Director of the San Diego Naval District and Balboa Naval Hospital |
| Professional basketball player | |
| Operatic bass-baritone singer; in 1963, was the first Puerto Rican to win an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York | |
| One of the first Puerto Rican women to become a United States Army officer | |
| Nicholas Estavillo | First Puerto Rican and the first Hispanic in the history of the NYPD to reach the three-star rank of Chief of Patrol[1] |
| Cano Estremera | Salsa singer |
| Salvador E. Felices | First Puerto Rican to reach the rank of Major General (2-star) in the United States Air Force |
| Gigi Fernández | Professional tennis player; first Puerto Rican woman to win an Olympic gold medal (representing the U.S.) and the first to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame |
| Enrique Figueroa | Olympic sailor; the only sailor of Puerto Rico to win four gold medals in the Central American-Caribbean Games |
| Manuel Goded Llopis | High-ranking Puerto Rican in the Spanish Army; joined Spanish General Francisco Franco in the revolt against the Spanish Republican government (also known as Spanish loyalists) in the Spanish Civil War |
| Wilfredo Gómez | Former boxer and three-time world champion |
| Isabel González | Activist who paved the way for Puerto Ricans to be given United States citizenship |
| Diego E. Hernández | First Hispanic to be named Vice Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) |
| Actor | |
| Javier López | Major League Baseball pitcher |
| Javy López | Former Major League Baseball catcher |
| Olin Pierre Louis | |
| Mike Lowell | Major League Baseball player |
| Ricky Martin | Singer and actor |
| Tony Martinez | Actor, singer, and bandleader |
| Kenneth McClintock | 13th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico; 22nd Secretary of State; former senator and City Councilman |
| María de las Mercedes Barbudo (1773–1849) | First "Independentista", the first Puerto Rican woman to become an advocate of Puerto Rican independence |
| Andy Montañez | Salsa singer |
| First Puerto Rican elected governor | |
| Ossie Ocasio | Boxer and former world Cruiserweight champion |
| Luis Padial | Brigadier General in the Spanish Army; politician; important figure in the abolishment of slavery in Puerto Rico |
| Dr. Hernán Padilla | Physician; former Mayor of San Juan; Puerto Rico House Majority Leader |
| José Enrique Pedreira | Musician and composer |
| Joaquin Phoenix | Actor who earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Gladiator and received wider recognition for his portrayal of musician Johnny Cash in Walk the Line |
| Carlos Ponce | Major League Baseball player |
| José M. Portela | Retired officer of the United States Air Force; in 1972 became the youngest C-141 Starlifter aircraft commander |
| Jorge Posada | New York Yankees catcher |
| Ramón Power y Giralt | Among the first native-born Puerto Ricans to refer to himself as a "Puerto Rican" and to fight for the equal representation of Puerto Rico in front of the parliamentary government of Spain |
| Samuel R. Quiñones | Lawyer and 5th President of the Puerto Rican Senate |
| Carlos D. Ramirez (1946–1999) | Publisher of El Diario La Prensa[2] |
| Marion Frederic Ramírez de Arellano | Captain; first Hispanic submarine commanding officer in the United States Navy |
| Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano | Praetor, Roman demigod, character in the book series The Heroes of Olympus |
| Felisa Rincón de Gautier | Former Mayor of San Juan; Democratic National Committeewoman; first woman to be elected mayor of a capital city in the Americas |
| Augusto Rodríguez | Lieutenant in the United States Union Army; member of the 15th Connecticut Regiment (aka Lyon Regiment); during the American Civil War he served in the defenses of Washington, D.C.; led his men in the Battles of Fredericksburg and Wyse Fork[3] |
| Augusto Rodríguez | Founder of Choir of the University of Puerto Rico |
| Carlos Romero Barceló | Former governor of Puerto Rico, Resident Commissioner, senator and mayor of San Juan |
| Johanna Rosaly | Actress and television host |
| Dr. Pedro Rosselló | Former governor, senator and San Juan Municipal Health Director |
| Roberto Sánchez Vilella | Former governor, first Secretary of State, Secretary of Public Works and San Juan City Administrator |
| Jorge Santini | Former Mayor of San Juan and senator |
| Daniel Santos | Boxer |
| Antulio Segarra | Officer in the United States Army; in 1943 became the first Puerto Rican to command a Regular Army Regiment |
| Geovany Soto | Current Chicago Cubs catcher, 2008 National League Rookie of the Year |
| Cristina Takacs-Vesbach | Antarctic researcher, microbial ecologist |
| Fermín Tangüis | Developed the seed that would eventually produce the Tanguis cotton in Peru, which saved that nation's cotton industry |
| Dayanara Torres | 1993 Miss Universe pageant winner |
| José Trías Monge | Former Chief Justice, Attorney General of Puerto Rico and member of Puerto Rico's Constitutional Convention |
| Pedro Vázquez | Former Puerto Rico Secretary of State |
| Samuel E Vázquez | Visual artist |
Due to space limitations it is almost impossible to list all of the people of San Juan who have distinguished themselves; therefore, a category has been created to this effect: