| 142381 | December 18 | Birth | 1725 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and theologian (d. 1791) |
| 142382 | December 18 | Birth | 1734 – Jean-Baptiste Rey, French conductor and composer (d. 1810) |
| 142383 | December 18 | Birth | 1778 – Joseph Grimaldi, English actor and dancer (d. 1837) |
| 142384 | December 18 | Birth | 1800 – James Watney, English brewer and landowner (d. 1884) |
| 142385 | December 18 | Birth | 1825 – Charles Griffin, American general (d. 1876) |
| 142386 | December 18 | Birth | 1825 – John S. Harris, American surveyor and politician (d. 1906) |
| 142387 | December 18 | Birth | 1835 – Lyman Abbott, American minister, theologian, and author (d. 1922) |
| 142388 | December 18 | Birth | 1847 – Augusta Holmès, French pianist and composer (d. 1903) |
| 142389 | December 18 | Birth | 1849 – Henrietta Edwards, Canadian activist and author (d. 1931) |
| 142390 | December 18 | Birth | 1851 – Graciano López Jaena, Filipino journalist (d. 1896) |
| 142391 | December 18 | Birth | 1856 – J. J. Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940) |
| 142392 | December 18 | Birth | 1860 – Edward MacDowell, American pianist and composer (d. 1908) |
| 142393 | December 18 | Birth | 1861 – Lionel Monckton, English composer and critic (d. 1924) |
| 142394 | December 18 | Birth | 1863 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914) |
| 142395 | December 18 | Birth | 1867 – Foxhall P. Keene, American polo player and horse breeder (d. 1941) |
| 142396 | December 18 | Birth | 1869 – Edward Willis Redfield, American painter (d. 1965) |
| 142397 | December 18 | Birth | 1870 – Saki, Burmese-English author and playwright (d. 1916) |
| 142398 | December 18 | Birth | 1873 – Francis Burton Harrison, American general and politician, 6th Governor-General of the Philippines (d. 1957) |
| 142399 | December 18 | Birth | 1875 – Matt McGrath, Irish-American hammer thrower (d. 1941) |
| 142400 | December 18 | Birth | 1878 – Joseph Stalin, Georgian-Russian marshal and politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1953) |
| 142401 | December 18 | Birth | 1879 – Paul Klee, Swiss-German painter and educator (d. 1940) |
| 142402 | December 18 | Birth | 1882 – Richard Maury, American-Argentinian engineer, designed the Salta–Antofagasta railway (d. 1950) |
| 142403 | December 18 | Birth | 1883 – Raimu, French actor (d. 1946) |
| 142404 | December 18 | Birth | 1884 – Emil Starkenstein, Czech pharmacologist, co-founded clinical pharmacology (d. 1942) |
| 142405 | December 18 | Birth | 1886 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player and manager (d. 1961) |
| 142406 | December 18 | Birth | 1886 – Martin Dooling, American soccer player (d. 1966) |
| 142407 | December 18 | Birth | 1887 – Bhikhari Thakur, Indian actor, singer, and playwright (d. 1971) |
| 142408 | December 18 | Birth | 1888 – Gladys Cooper, English actress and singer (d. 1971) |
| 142409 | December 18 | Birth | 1888 – Robert Moses, American urban planner, designed the Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway (d. 1981) |
| 142410 | December 18 | Birth | 1890 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (d. 1954) |