| 138601 | December 8 | Birth | 1877 – Paul Ladmirault, French pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 1944) |
| 138602 | December 8 | Birth | 1880 – Johannes Aavik, Estonian linguist and philologist (d. 1973) |
| 138603 | December 8 | Birth | 1884 – Francis Cecil Campbell Balfour, English Lieutenant-Colonel in the british Army and colonial administrator (d. 1965) |
| 138604 | December 8 | Birth | 1886 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter and educator (d. 1957) |
| 138605 | December 8 | Birth | 1886 – Albert Üksip, Estonian actor and botanist (d. 1966) |
| 138606 | December 8 | Birth | 1890 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech-American pianist and composer (d. 1959) |
| 138607 | December 8 | Birth | 1892 – Marcus Lee Hansen, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1938) |
| 138608 | December 8 | Birth | 1894 – E. C. Segar, American cartoonist, created Popeye (d. 1938) |
| 138609 | December 8 | Birth | 1894 – James Thurber, American author and illustrator (d. 1961) |
| 138610 | December 8 | Birth | 1894 – Marthe Vinot, French actress (d. 1974) |
| 138611 | December 8 | Birth | 1899 – Arthur Leslie, British actor and playwright (d. 1970) |
| 138612 | December 8 | Birth | 1899 – John Qualen, Canadian-American actor and singer (d. 1987) |
| 138613 | December 8 | Birth | 1900 – Sun Li-jen, Chinese general and politician (d. 1990) |
| 138614 | December 8 | Birth | 1900 – Ants Oras, Estonian-American author and academic (d. 1982) |
| 138615 | December 8 | Birth | 1902 – Wifredo Lam, Cuban-French painter (d. 1982) |
| 138616 | December 8 | Birth | 1908 – Concha Piquer, Spanish singer and actress (d. 1990) |
| 138617 | December 8 | Birth | 1908 – John A. Volpe, American soldier and politician, 61st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1994) |
| 138618 | December 8 | Birth | 1909 – Lesslie Newbigin, English bishop and theologian (d. 1998) |
| 138619 | December 8 | Birth | 1909 – Gratien Gélinas, Canadian actor, director, and producer (d. 1999) |
| 138620 | December 8 | Birth | 1911 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (d. 1976) |
| 138621 | December 8 | Birth | 1911 – Nikos Gatsos, Greek poet and songwriter (d. 1992) |
| 138622 | December 8 | Birth | 1913 – Delmore Schwartz, American poet and author (d. 1966) |
| 138623 | December 8 | Birth | 1915 – Ernest Lehman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2005) |
| 138624 | December 8 | Birth | 1916 – Richard Fleischer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2006) |
| 138625 | December 8 | Birth | 1918 – Gérard Souzay, French actor and singer (d. 2004) |
| 138626 | December 8 | Birth | 1919 – Peter Tali Coleman, Samoan-American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of American Samoa (d. 1997) |
| 138627 | December 8 | Birth | 1919 – Julia Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (d. 1985) |
| 138628 | December 8 | Birth | 1919 – Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist (d. 2001) |
| 138629 | December 8 | Birth | 1920 – McDonald Bailey, Trinidadian-English sprinter and rugby player (d. 2013) |
| 138630 | December 8 | Birth | 1922 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (d. 2011) |