| 5131 | January 12 | Birth | 1792 – Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist and academic (d. 1841) |
| 5132 | January 12 | Birth | 1797 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (d. 1873) |
| 5133 | January 12 | Birth | 1810 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1859) |
| 5134 | January 12 | Birth | 1822 – Étienne Lenoir, French engineer, designed the internal combustion engine (d. 1900) |
| 5135 | January 12 | Birth | 1837 – Adolf Jensen, German pianist and composer (d. 1879) |
| 5136 | January 12 | Birth | 1849 – Jean Béraud, Russian-French painter (d. 1935) |
| 5137 | January 12 | Birth | 1856 – John Singer Sargent, Italian-English painter and educator (d. 1925) |
| 5138 | January 12 | Birth | 1860 – Louis Dutfoy, French target shooter (d. 1904) |
| 5139 | January 12 | Birth | 1863 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and philosopher (d. 1902) |
| 5140 | January 12 | Birth | 1869 – Bhagwan Das, Indian Theosophist and public figure (d. 1958) |
| 5141 | January 12 | Birth | 1873 – Spyridon Louis, Greek runner (d. 1940) |
| 5142 | January 12 | Birth | 1874 – Laura Adams Armer, American author and photographer (d. 1963) |
| 5143 | January 12 | Birth | 1874 – James Juvenal, American rower (d. 1942) |
| 5144 | January 12 | Birth | 1876 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the Turkish Provisional Government (d. 1950) |
| 5145 | January 12 | Birth | 1876 – Jack London, American author and journalist (d. 1916) |
| 5146 | January 12 | Birth | 1876 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (d. 1948) |
| 5147 | January 12 | Birth | 1877 – Frank J. Corr, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1934) |
| 5148 | January 12 | Birth | 1878 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian-American author and playwright (d. 1952) |
| 5149 | January 12 | Birth | 1879 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (d. 1968) |
| 5150 | January 12 | Birth | 1879 – Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician (d. 1942) |
| 5151 | January 12 | Birth | 1882 – Milton Sills, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1930) |
| 5152 | January 12 | Birth | 1884 – Texas Guinan, Canadian-born American entertainer and businesswoman (d. 1933) |
| 5153 | January 12 | Birth | 1889 – Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Indian-Pakistani spiritual leader (d. 1965) |
| 5154 | January 12 | Birth | 1890 – Johannes Vares, Estonian poet, physician, and politician (d. 1946) |
| 5155 | January 12 | Birth | 1892 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer co-founded the Russian Aircraft Corporation (d. 1976) |
| 5156 | January 12 | Birth | 1893 – Hermann Göring, German commander, pilot, and politician Minister President of Prussia (d. 1946) |
| 5157 | January 12 | Birth | 1893 – Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian-German architect and politician (d. 1946) |
| 5158 | January 12 | Birth | 1894 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer and actor (d. 1975) |
| 5159 | January 12 | Birth | 1894 – Van Vanthoff, Australian public servant (d. 1967) |
| 5160 | January 12 | Birth | 1895 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (d. 1959) |