| Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, the father of English tragedy, and instaurator of dramatic blank verse |
| Julia Marlowe (1865–1950), American actress |
| Xavier Marmier (1808–1892), French author |
| Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, duc de Raguse (1774–1852), Marshal of France |
| Jean-François Marmontel (1723–1799), French writer |
| Philips van Marnix, Heer van St. Aldegonde (1538–1598), Dutch writer and statesman |
| Carlo Marochetti (1805–1867), Italian sculptor |
| Clément Marot (1496–1544), French poet |
| Daniel Marot (1661–1752), French architect, furniture designer and engraver |
| Henry Gurdon Marquand (1819–1902), American philanthropist and collector |
| Joachim Marquardt (1812–1882), German historian and writer on Roman antiquities |
| Jacques Marquette (1637–1675), French Jesuit missionary and explorer |
| Carl von Marr (1858–1936), American artist |
| Giovanni Marradi (1852–1922), Italian poet |
| Florence Marryat (1833–1899), English novelist |
| Frederick Marryat (1792–1848), English sailor and novelist |
| Mademoiselle Mars (1779–1847), French actress |
| Adolf Marschall von Bieberstein (1842–1912), German diplomatist |
| William Marsden (1754–1836), English orientalist |
| Adam Marsh (c. 1200–1259), English Franciscan, scholar and theologian |
| George Perkins Marsh (1801–1882), American diplomatist and philologist |
| Herbert Marsh (1757–1839), English divine |
| Narcissus Marsh (1638–1713), Archbishop of Dublin and Armagh |
| Othniel Charles Marsh (1831–1899), American palæontologist |
| Alfred Marshall (1842–1924), English economist |
| John Marshall (1755–1835), American jurist, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court |
| John Marshall (1818–1891), British surgeon and physiologist |
| Stephen Marshall (c. 1594–1655), English Nonconformist divine |
| Thomas Riley Marshall (1854–1925), American politician |
| Sir William Raine Marshall (1865–1939), British general |
| Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), English Baptist missionary and orientalist |
| Luigi Ferdinando Marsili (1658–1730), Italian soldier and scientific writer |
| Marsilius of Padua (1270–1342), Italian medieval scholar |
| John Marston (1575?–1634), English dramatist and satirist |
| Philip Bourke Marston (1850–1887), English poet |
| Domitius Marsus (First Century B.C.?), Latin poet |
| Henry Marten (1602–1680), English regicide |
| Fedor Fedorovich Martens (1845–1909), Russian jurist |
| Georg Friedrich von Martens (1756–1821), German jurist and diplomatist |
| Hans Martensen (1808–1884), Danish divine |
| Martial (c. 40–c. 104 A.D.), Latin epigrammatist |
| Martianus Capella (Fifth Century), Latin writer |
| Jean-Baptiste-Sylvère Gay, Vicomte de Martignac (1778–1832), French statesman |
| Martin, name of several popes |
| Saint Martin (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours |
| Claude Martin (1735–1800), French adventurer and officer in the army of the English East India Company |
| François-Xavier Martin (1762–1846), American jurist and author |
| Henri Martin (1810–1883), French historian |
| Homer Dodge Martin (1836–1897), American artist |
| John Martin (1789–1854), English painter |
| Luther Martin (1748–1826), American lawyer |
| Sir Theodore Martin (1816–1909), British author and translator |
| William Martin (1767–1810), English naturalist |
| William Alexander Parsons Martin (1827–1916), American missionary |
| Sir William Fanshawe Martin (1801–1895), British admiral |
| Harriet Martineau (1802–1876), English writer |
| James Martineau (1805–1900), English philosopher and divine |
| Arsenio Martínez de Campos (1831–1900), Spanish marshal, senator and knight of the Golden Fleece |
| Francisco Martínez de la Rosa (1787–1862), Spanish statesman and dramatist |
| Juan Martínez de Rozas (1759–1813), earliest leader in the Chilean struggle for independence |
| Juan Martínez Montañés (1568–1649), Spanish sculptor |
| Sir John Martin-Harvey (1863–1944), English actor |
| Giovanni Battista Martini (1706–1784), Italian musician |
| Simone Martini (1283–1344), Sienese painter |
| Martinus Polonus (d. 1279), chronicler |
| György Martinuzzi (1482–1551), Hungarian statesman |
| Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794–1868), German botanist and traveller |
| Christino Martos (1830–1893), Spanish politician |
| Henry Martyn (1781–1812), English missionary to India |
| John Martyn (1699–1768), English botanist |
| Michele Marullo Tarcaniota (d. 1500), Greek scholar, poet, and soldier |
| Martin van Marum (1750–1837), Dutch man of science |
| Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), English poet and satirist |
| Karl Marx (1818–1883), German socialist, and head of the International Working Men’s Association |
| Mary, mother of Jesus |
| Mary Magdalene, a woman mentioned in the Gospels |
| Mary I. (1516–1558), Queen of England, unpleasantly remembered as “the Bloody Mary” |
| Mary II. (1662–1694), Queen of England and wife of King William III. |
| Mary Queen of Scots (1542–1587), daughter of King James V. |
| Mary (1496–1533), Queen of France |
| Mary, Duchess of Burgundy (1457–1482), only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy |
| Mary of Lorraine (1515–1560), Queen of James V. and afterwards regent of Scotland |
| Mary of Modena (1658–1718), Queen of the English King James II. |
| Mary of Orange (1631–1660), eldest daughter of the English King Charles I. |
| Sir Frank Thomas Marzials (1840–1912), British civil servant and man of letters |
| Masaccio (1402?–1429), Italian painter |
| Masaniello (1620–1647), leader of the revolt against Spanish rule in Naples in 1647 |
| Pietro Mascagni (1863–1945), Italian operatic composer |
| Jules Mascaron (1634–1703), French preacher |
| Lorenzo Mascheroni (1750–1800), Italian geometer |
| Juan Francisco Masdeu (1744–1817), Spanish historian |
| John Masefield (1878–1967), English poet, playwright and novelist |
| Francis Maseres (1731–1824), English mathematician and philanthropist |
| Lady Abigail Masham (1684/5–1734), favourite of Anne, queen of England |
| Samuel Cunliffe Lister, Baron Masham (1815–1906), English inventor |
| Nevil Maskelyne (1732–1811), English astronomer-royal |
| Masolino da Panicale (1383–c. 1447), Florentine painter |
| Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865–1948), English novelist, playwright and politician |
| Francis Mason (1799–1874), American missionary |
| George Mason (1725–1792), American statesman |
| George Hemming Mason (1818–1872), English painter |
| James Murray Mason (1798–1871), American political leader |
| Sir John Mason (1503–1566), English diplomatist |
| John Mason (1586–1635), founder of New Hampshire, U.S.A. |
| Major John Mason (1600–1672), American soldier |
| John Young Mason (1799–1859), American political leader and diplomatist |
| Sir Josiah Mason (1795–1881), English pen-manufacturer |
| Lowell Mason (1792–1872), American musician |
| William Mason (1724–1797), English poet |
| Gaston Maspero (1846–1916), French Egyptologist |
| Massasoit (1580–1661), Indian chief, head of the Pokanokets or Wampanoags |
| André Masséna, Prince d’Essling (1756–1817), greatest of Napoleon’s marshals |
| Christian Karl August Ludwig von Massenbach (1758–1827), Prussian soldier |
| Jules Massenet (1842–1912), French composer |
| John Clotworthy, Viscount Massereene (d. 1665), Anglo-Irish politician |
| Sir Edward Massey (c. 1619–c. 1674), English soldier in the Great Rebellion |
| Gerald Massey (1828–1907), English poet |
| William Ferguson Massey (1856–1925), New Zealand statesman |
| Jean-Baptiste Massillon (1663–1742), French Bishop and preacher |
| Massimo, Roman princely family of great antiquity |
| Philip Massinger (1583–1640), English dramatist |
| Massinissa (c. 240–148 B.C.), King of Massylian or eastern Numidia |
| David Masson (1822–1907), Scottish man of letters |
| Frédéric Masson (1847–1923), French historian |
| Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), American writer |
| Mas‘ūdī (d. c. 956), Arabian historian |
| Mariano Matamoros (1769/70–1814), Mexican patriot and revolutionary leader |
| Cotton Mather (1663–1728), American Congregational clergyman and author |
| Increase Mather (1639–1723), American Congregational minister |
| Richard Mather (1596–1669), American Congregational clergyman |
| Samuel Mather (1706–1785), American Clergyman |
| Helen Mathers (1853–1920), English novelist |
| George Matheson (1842–1906), Scottish theologian and preacher |
| Theobald Mathew (1790–1856), Irish temperance reformer |
| Charles Mathews (1776–1835), English actor |
| Sir Charles Willie Mathews (1850–1920), English lawyer |
| Thomas Mathews (1676–1751), British admiral |
| William Mathews (1818–1909), American essayist |
| Karl Mathy (1807–1868), Badenese statesman |
| Matilda (1102–1167), Queen of England and empress |
| Matilde di Canossa (1046–1115), Countess or margravine of Tuscany |
| Raimundo José da Cunha Matos (1776–1839), Portuguese Brazilian soldier and author |
| Juan de Matos Fragoso (1608–1688), Spanish dramatist |
| Masayoshi Matsukata (1835–1924), Japanese statesman |
| Carlo Matteucci (1811–1868), Italian physicist |
| Saint Matthew, one of the Twelve Apostles, and the traditional author of the First Gospel |
| Matthew Cantacuzenus (fl. 1354), Byzantine Emperor |
| Matthew of Westminster, name of an imaginary person who was long regarded as the author of the Flores Historiarum |
| Tobias Matthew (1546–1628), Archbishop of York |
| Brander Matthews (1852–1929), American author and critic |
| Stanley Matthews (1824–1889), American jurist |
| August Matthiae (1769–1835), German classical scholar |
| Matthias, early Christian |
| Matthias (1557–1619), Roman Emperor |
| Matthias I. (1443–1490), King of Hungary |
| Friedrich von Matthisson (1761–1831), German poet |
| Charles Robert Maturin (1782–1824), Irish novelist and dramatist |
| Artamon Sergyeevich Matveyev (1625–1682), Russian statesman and reformer |
| Cyril Maude (1862–1951), English actor |
| Sir Stanley Maude (1864–1917), British general |
| Henry Maudsley (1835–1918), English physiologist |
| Savari de Mauléon (d. 1236), French soldier |
| Margaret Maultasch (1318–1369), Countess of Tirol |
| Michel Joseph Maunoury (1847–1923), French general |
| Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893), French novelist and poet |
| René-Nicolas-Charles-Augustin de Maupeou (1714–1792), Chancellor of France |
| Maupertuis (1698–1759), French mathematician and astronomer |
| Victor Maurel (1848–1923), French singer |
| Wilhelm Maurenbrecher (1838–1892), German historian |
| Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Comte de Maurepas (1701–1781), French statesman |
| Georg Ludwig von Maurer (1790–1872), German statesman and historian |
| Saint Maurice (d. c. 286), early Christian martyr |
| Maurice (539–602), East Roman Emperor |
| Maurice (1521–1553), Elector of Saxony |
| Maurice of Nassau (1567–1625), Prince of Orange |
| Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), English theologian |
| Jean Siffrein Maury (1746–1817), French Cardinal and Archbishop of Paris |
| Louis-Ferdinand-Alfred Maury (1817–1892), French scholar |
| Matthew Fontaine Maury (1806–1873), American naval officer and hydrographer |
| Ibrahīm al-Mauṣilī (742–804), Arabian singer |
| Mausolus (d. 353 B.C.), Satrap and practically ruler of Caria |
| Anton Mauve (1838–1888), Dutch landscape painter |
| Mavrocordato, name of a family of Phanariot Greeks |
| Max (1867–1929), Prince of Baden |
| Adolphe Max (1869–1939), Burgomaster of Brussels at the outbreak of the World War |
| Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (d. 312), Roman Emperor |
| Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (1840–1916), Anglo-American engineer and inventor |
| Maximian (c. 240–310), Roman Emperor |
| Maximianus (Sixth Century), Latin elegiac poet |
| Maximilian I. (1573–1651), called “the Great,” Elector and Duke of Bavaria |
| Maximilian I. (1756–1825), King of Bavaria |
| Maximilian II. (1811–1864), King of Bavaria |
| Maximilian I. (1459–1519), Roman Emperor |
| Maximilian II. (1527–1576), Roman Emperor |
| Maximilian (1832–1867), Emperor of Mexico |
| Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus (d. 238), Roman Emperor |
| Maximus, name of four Roman emperors |
| Saint Maximus (c. 580–662), Abbot of Chrysopolis |
| Maximus of Smyrna (Fourth Century), Greek philosopher of the Neoplatonist school |
| Maximus of Tyre (Second Century), Greek rhetorician and philosopher |
| Maxwell, name of a Scottish family |
| James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879), British physicist |
| Sir John Grenfell Maxwell (1859–1929), British general |
| Phil May (1864–1903), English caricaturist |
| Samuel May (1810–1899), American reformer |
| Sophie May (1833–1906), American authoress |
| Thomas May (1594/5–1650), English poet and historian |
| Thomas Erskine May (1815–1886), sEnglish Constitutional historian |
| William May (d. 1560), English divine |
| Michael Maybrick (1841–1913), English singer and composer |
| Charles de Lorraine, Duc de Mayenne (1554–1611), French noble |
| Brantz Mayer (1809–1879), American author |
| Julius Robert von Mayer (1814–1878), German physicist |
| Tobias Mayer (1723–1762), German astronomer |
| Henry Mayhew (1812–1887), English author and journalist |
| Jonathan Mayhew (1720–1766), American clergyman |
| Thomas Mayhew (Eighteenth Century), English cabinet-maker |
| François de Maynard (1582–1646), French poet |
| Jasper Mayne (1604–1672), English author |
| Henry Thomas Mayo (1856–1937), American naval officer |
| Richard Southwell Bourke, Earl of Mayo (1822–1872), British statesman |
| William James Mayo (1861–1939), American surgeon |
| William Starbuck Mayo (1812–1895), American novelist |
| John Eyton Bickersteth Mayor (1825–1910), English classical scholar |
| Richmond Mayo-Smith (1854–1901), American economist |
| John Mayow (1643?–1679), English chemist and physiologist |
| Jules Mazarin (1602–1661), French Cardinal and statesman |
| Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709), Hetman of the Cossacks |
| Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872), Italian patriot |
| Guido Mazzoni (1859–1943), Italian poet |
| Jacopo Mazzoni (1548–1598), Italian philosopher |
| Larkin Goldsmith Mead (1835–1910), American sculptor |
| Richard Mead (1673–1754), English physician |
| George Gordon Meade (1815–1872), American soldier |
| William Meade (1789–1862), American Protestant Episcopal Bishop |
| Thomas Francis Meagher (1823–1867), Irish nationalist and American soldier |
| Reginald Brabazon, Earl of Meath (1841–1929), British philanthropist |
| Ilya Mechnikov (1845–1916), Russian biologist |
| Medhankara, name of several distinguished members, in medieval times, of the Buddhist order |
| Walter Henry Medhurst (1796–1857), English Congregationalist missionary to China |
| Medici, name of a family renowned in Italian history |
| Giacomo Medici (1817–1882), Italian patriot and soldier |
| José Toribio Medina (1852–1930), Chilean bibliographer |
| Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia (1550–1615), Commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada |
| Alexander Beaufort Meek (1814–1865), American jurist and journalist |
| Fielding Bradford Meek (1817–1876), American geologist and palæontologist |
| Mehemet Ali (1769–1849), Pasha and afterwards viceroy of Egypt |
| Mehmet V. (1844–1918), Sultan of Turkey |
| Return Jonathan Meigs (1740–1823), American soldier |
| Sir Pherozeshah Merwanji Mehta (1845–1915), Indian Moderate leader and municipal reformer |
| Étienne Nicolas Méhul (1763–1817), French composer |
| Heinrich Meibom (1555–1625), German historian and poet |
| Arthur Meighen (1874–1960), Canadian statesman |
| Meiji (1852–1912), Mikado, or Emperor, of Japan |
| Henri Meilhac (1831–1897), French dramatist |
| August Meineke (1790–1870), German classical scholar |
| Meir (Second Century), Jewish rabbi |
| Meir of Rothenburg (c. 1215–1293), German rabbi and poet |
| Alfred Meissner (1822–1885), Bohemian poet |
| Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815–1891), French painter |
| Juste Aurèle Meissonier (c. 1693–1750), French goldsmith, sculptor, painter, architect, and furniture designer |
| Pomponius Mela (fl. c. 43), earliest Roman geographer |
| Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), German theologian and reformer |
| Melanthius (Fourth Century B.C.), noted Greek painter |
| Dame Nellie Melba (1861–1931), British operatic soprano |
| William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (1779–1848), English statesman |
| Gari Melchers (1860–1932), American artist |
| Alfred Moritz Mond, Baron Melchett (1868–1930), British politician |
| Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of “supreme El,” in the Bible |
| Juan Meléndez Valdés (1754–1817), Spanish poet |
| Meletius of Antioch (d. 381), Catholic Bishop and saint |
| Meletius of Lycopolis (Fourth Century), founder of the sect known after him as the “Meletians” |
| Jules Méline (1838–1925), French statesman |
| Étienne Marin Mélingue (1808–1875), French actor and sculptor |
| Melissus of Samos (Fifth Century B.C.), Greek philosopher of the Eleatic School |
| Melito (Second Century), Bishop of Sardis, Christian writer |
| Mellitus (d. 624), Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury |
| Francisco Manuel de Mello (1608–1666), Portuguese writer |
| Andrew William Mellon (1855–1937), American banker and public official |
| Macedonio Melloni (1798–1854), Italian physicist |
| William Melmoth (1666–1743), learned member of Lincoln’s Inn |
| William Melmoth (1710?–1799), English author |
| Melozzo da Forlì (1438–1494), Italian painter |
| Andrew Melville (1545–1622), Scottish scholar, theologian and religious reformer |
| Arthur Melville (1855–1904), British painter |
| George Wallace Melville (1841–1912), American naval engineer |
| Herman Melville (1819–1891), American author |
| James Melville (1556–1614), Scottish reformer |
| Sir James Melville (1535–1617), Scottish diplomatist and memoir writer |
| Pieter Melvill van Carnbee (1816–1856), Dutch geographer |
| Hans Memling (c. 1430–1494), Flemish painter |
| Gaius Memmius (First Century B.C.), Roman orator and poet |
| Memnon of Rhodes (c. 380–333 B.C.), Commander |
| Juan de Mena (1411–1456), Spanish poet |
| Pedro de Mena (1628–1688), Spanish sculptor |
| Luigi Federico Menabrea (1809–1896), Italian general and statesman |
| Gilles Ménage (1613–1692), French scholar |
| Menahem, King of Israel |
| Menander (c. 342–c. 292 B.C.), Greek dramatist, the chief representative of the New Comedy |
| Menander (d. c. 150 B.C.), Graeco-Indian dynast |
| Menander of Laodicea, Greek rhetorician and commentator |
| Menander Protector (Sixth Century), Byzantine historian |
| Joachim Ménant (1820–1899), French magistrate and orientalist |
| Louis Ménard (1822–1901), French man of letters |
| Menasseh ben Israel (c. 1604–1657), Jewish leader |
| Mencius (d. 289 B.C.), Chinese moral teacher |
| Dmitry Mendeleyev (1834–1907), Russian chemist
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