List of noted children of clergy is a list of notable persons concerned with individuals whose status as a child of a cleric or preacher is important, preferably critical, to their fame or significance.
Western religions
Christian
Pre-Schism Saint Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland, son of a British deacon and grandson of a priest
Catholic
George Bariț – son of an Eastern-rite Catholic priest who once trained for the priesthood. Amy Coney Barrett, United States Supreme Court justice, daughter of a Catholic deacon. Cesare BorgiaHerfried Münkler and Marina Münkler, Lexikon der Renaissance, Munich: Beck, 2000, pp. 43ff. Lucrezia Borgia George Coșbuc – Romanian poet, 14 generations of his family were Eastern-rite priests including his father Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma John Fugelsang, actor and comedian, son of a Franciscan friar. Marcion of Sinope – son of the Bishop of Sinope, propagator of Marcionism, an early Christian heresy Pope Silverius – legitimate son of a pope Thomas I of York – Archbishop of York in Catholic era (Celibacy had become the rule, but was still haphazardly enforced.)
Eastern Orthodox
Dmitri Mendeleev – Russian chemist and inventor. He is best remembered for formulating the Periodic Law and creating a farsighted version of the periodic table of elements. Nikolay Bogolyubov – Russian theoretical and mathematical physicist. Sergei Bulgakov – Russian theologian. Nikolai Chernyshevsky – Socialist thinker, writer, and materialist Cyriacus the Anchorite – saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Demetri Martin – comedian, served as an altar boy. Ivan Pavlov – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1904), Scientist. H. G. Wells's autobiography indicates the Soviets tolerated his continued attendance at the Russian Orthodox Church. Stanislav Radonjić – Montenegrin governor Staniša Radonjić – Montenegrin serdar. George Stephanopoulos – former altar boy. Theophan the Recluse – saint in the Russian Orthodox Church Yevgeny Zamyatin – Bolshevik who initially supported the October Revolution Adrian Zmed – actor Justin Popović – Serbian theologian Miloš Milojević – Serbian writer and politician
Oriental Orthodoxy Abraham Kovoor – skeptic and atheist.
Protestant
John Adams – American Founding Father. Roy Acuff – American country music singer, fiddler and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music." Stacey Abrams – American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author. Both her parents are Methodist ministers. Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook – Canadian-British business tycoon, politician, and writer. John Abernethy (minister) Sophia Akuffo – Chief Justice of Ghana (2017–19), daughter of a Presbyterian minister Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair – taught by his minister father and taught for the SPCK for a time. Douglas Alexander - Scottish MP, son of Church of Scotland minister (along with sister, Wendy). Wendy Alexander - Scottish MP, son of Church of Scotland minister (along with brother, Alexander). Tori Amos, Crucify (song) and "Icicle" deal overtly with the background as do others. Garner Ted Armstrong – son of Herbert W. Armstrong who was disfellowed by him.Garner Ted Armstrong, 73; TV Evangelist Formed Own Church After Break With Father Los Angeles Times/September 16, 2003 By Myrna Oliver Obituaries Matthew Arnold – poet and educationist, son of Revd. Thomas Arnold Chester A. Arthur – President of the United States, son of a Baptist minister. John Ashcroft – father was an Assemblies of God congregation minister. Jane Austen – English novelist; daughter of George Austen, an Anglican clergyman. Her maternal grandfather and her brother James were also clergymen. Christopher Awdry – English author who continued The Railway Series of books featuring Thomas the Tank Engine first created by his father Rev. Wilbert Awdry Joan Bridge Baez and Albert Baez – parents of peace activist and folksinger Joan Baez were both children of clergy who themselves became Quakers. Robert Baden-Powell – founder of international Scouting movement. John Baillie, and brother Donald Macpherson Baillie – prominent Scottish theologians, a third brother Peter Baillie, was a missionary in India. All were sons of Free Church of Scotland Minister John Baillie. John Logie Baird – was a Scottish engineer, innovator, one of the inventors of the mechanical television, was the youngest of four children of the Reverend John Baird, the Church of Scotland's minister for the local St Bride's Church and Jessie Morrison Inglis, the orphaned niece of a wealthy family of shipbuilders from Glasgow.Burns, John Logie Baird, television pioneer p.1 Jay Bakker – founder of LGBT-friendly Revolution Church, son of televangelist Jim Bakker and evangelist and TV personality Tammy Faye Messner. James Baldwin – raised by his stepfather who was a preacher and his novel Go Tell it on the Mountain relates to this. John Barron (journalist) – son of a Methodist minister who investigated Communists. Karl Barth – Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century. Pierre Bayle – French writer and philosopher. Son of a pastor in the French Reformed Church. Robert Hugh Benson – Son of Edward White Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, his conversion to Catholicism while an Anglican priest caused a sensation. An English author, several of siblings including A. C. Benson, E. F. Benson, and Margaret Benson were also authors. Barney Bentall – Canadian pop/rock singer-songwriter. J. D. Beresford – agnostic, The Hampdenshire Wonder contains an unflattering minister character. Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet – British Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay. Ingmar Bergman – noted atheist, son of a Lutheran minister. Crystal Bernard – actress and singer. Daughter of a Baptist televangelist who travelled across the United States preaching and singing. Joh Bjelke-Petersen – Premier of Queensland, son of a Lutheran pastor Todd Blanche, United States Attorney General, son of a pastor. William Henry Bliss – convert to Catholicism who worked at the Vatican. John Bost – French Protestant minister. Father was a minister. John Boyega – Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Alex Briley – got his start singing in church. Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë – sister novelists, daughters of an Anglican vicar. Branwell Brontë – brother of the Brontë sisters. Cleanth Brooks – literary critic who wrote Community, Religion, and Literature: Essays (1995). Gordon Brown – former prime minister of Great Britain, son of a Church of Scotland minister. Measha Brueggergosman – Canadian soprano, opera singer and concert artist; her father is a Baptist pastor. Walter Brueggemann – influential Old Testament scholar and writer during the early 21st century. He often speaks of the influence of his father, a German Evangelical pastor. Published over 100 books. Pearl S. Buck – child of missionaries with her father being a minister. Aaron Burr – Vice President of the United States who studied theology at Princeton University and whose father was Reverend Aaron Burr Sr. John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir – Scottish writer, served as Governor General of Canada, son of a Free Church of Scotland minister. Jamal Harrison Bryant – founder/Pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church Baltimore MD, author of "World War Me: How to Win the War I Lost", is the son of Bishop John Richard Bryant of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Jeremy Camp – contemporary Christian musician. His father is pastor at Harvest Chapel, a Calvary Chapel church in Lafayette, IN. Alexander Campbell – Church planter/minister in independent congregations in US during Restoration Movement. John McLeod Campbell – nineteenth-century Scottish minister and a Reformed theologian of note. He disagreed with the Westminster Confession of Faith's view of a limited atonement. Bart Campolo – First humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California; an American humanist speaker and writer he is the son of Tony Campolo. Lois Capps – attended Pacific Lutheran University and has a Master's in religion. Bampfylde Moore Carew – Self-proclaimed king of beggars. James Carr – Started his music career in church. Lewis Carroll – English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer was son of Charles Dodgson, Archdeacon of Richmond. Wilf Carter – widely acknowledged as the father of Canadian country music, was Canada's first country music star, inspiring a generation of young Canadian performers. Son of a Baptist minister. JJ Chalmers - TV presenter and Invictus Games medallist, son of John Chalmers, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Francis Pharcellus Church – author of the New York Sun article, "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus;" son of a Baptist minister Carl Henry Clerk – agricultural educator, journalist, editor and Presbyterian minister, son of the Basel missionary, Nicholas Timothy Clerk. His mother also had Carl Meyer, a Basel Mission pastor for a father. George C. Clerk – botanist and plant pathologist, son of Presbyterian minister, Carl Henry Clerk. Jane E. Clerk – teacher and pioneer woman education administrator on the Gold Coast, daughter of the Basel missionary, Nicholas Timothy Clerk. Her mother also had a Basel Mission pastor, Carl Meyer for a father. Matilda J. Clerk – physician and science educator, daughter of the Basel missionary, Nicholas Timothy Clerk. Her maternal grandfather, Carl Meyer, was also a Basel Mission pastor Nicholas T. Clerk – academic, public administrator and Presbyterian minister, son of Presbyterian minister, Carl Henry Clerk Nicholas Timothy Clerk – theologian, clergyman and missionary, son of Jamaican Moravian missionary, Alexander Worthy Clerk Theodore S. Clerk – architect and urban planner, son of the Basel missionary, Nicholas Timothy Clerk. His mother's father, Carl Meyer was also a Basel Mission pastor. Grover Cleveland – 22nd and 24th President of the United States. His father was a Presbyterian minister. Jim Clyburn – served as the third-ranking House Democrat, behind Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, from 2007 until 2023. Wayne K. Clymer – Methodist bishop. Nat King Cole – singer and jazz pianist, son of a Baptist minister. Sheila Schuller Coleman – American educator involved in the operation of Crystal Cathedral, founded by her father Robert H. Schuller. Ned Corbett – was an innovator with use of radio and a pioneer adult educator in Canada. Sam Cooke – gospel and rhythm & blues. Alice Cooper – born Vincent Furnier, singer/songwriter and Theatrical Rock Icon, son of a lay preacher in the Church of Jesus Christ William Lawson Cotton – Canadian newspaperman and pioneer in introduction of daily newspapers. Stephen Crane – author of The Red Badge of Courage, son of a Methodist minister. Adelaide Crapsey – daughter of Episcopalian priest Algernon Sidney Crapsey. Donald Grant Creighton – university teacher, noted historian, and author was the son of the Reverend William Black Creighton, a Methodist. Elijah Cummings – American politician and civil rights advocate. Rivers Cuomo – lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter of the rock band Weezer, was raised in a Zen Buddhist Center, which his father left to become a Pentecostal preacher. Robert Curl – emeritus professor of chemistry at Rice University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996. Curl was the son of a Methodist minister.http://www.nndb.com/people/798/000100498/ Robert F. Curl Jr. Ted Cruz – American politician and attorney, son of Rafael Cruz. Hugh Dennis – his father, John Dennis, was the Bishop of Saint Edmundsbury and Ipswich. Dorothea Dix – social reformer, daughter of a circuit Methodist minister.