Famous people born on December 17 — and what else happened that day
If your birthday is December 17, you share it with Pope Francis, Milla Jovovich, Manny Pacquiao — and you were born under Sagittarius, the sign of the adventurous, optimistic, and always planning the next trip.
Birthday basics for December 17
Sagittarius ♐
Zodiac sign
Turquoise
Birthstone
Narcissus
Birth flower
351st
Day of the year
December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years), with 14 days still to come.
Famous people born on December 17
Pope Francis — Argentine pope of the Catholic Church, the first from the Americas (born 1936).
Milla Jovovich — Ukrainian-American actress and model of the Resident Evil films (born 1975).
Manny Pacquiao — Filipino boxing champion in a record eight weight divisions (born 1978).
Also sharing the day:
John Greenleaf Whittier (b. 1807) — Quaker poet and dedicated abolitionist.
Eugene Levy (b. 1946) — comic actor of Best in Show and Schitt's Creek.
Sarah Paulson (b. 1974) — Emmy-winning star of American Horror Story.
December 17 in history
1903 — The Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1935 — The Douglas DC-3, the airliner that revolutionized air travel, made its first flight.
1989 — The Simpsons premiered as a full-length series on the Fox network.
1790 — The great Aztec Calendar Stone was unearthed in Mexico City's main plaza.
1938 — Chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann achieved the first nuclear fission of uranium in Berlin.
1969 — The U.S. Air Force closed Project Blue Book, its long-running UFO investigation.
December 17 birthday questions
What zodiac sign is December 17?
Anyone born on December 17 is a Sagittarius — adventurous, optimistic, and always planning the next trip.
What is the birthstone for December 17?
The birthstone for a December 17 birthday is Turquoise, and the birth flower is the Narcissus.
Who is the most famous person born on December 17?
Pope Francis is among the best known — Argentine pope of the Catholic Church, the first from the Americas (born 1936).
What happened on December 17?
In 1903, The Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
What day of the year is December 17?
December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years), with 14 days still to come.
Make their day unforgettable
Know someone born on December 17? See the full story of their exact birthday — the headlines, the #1 song, what things cost — and turn it into a personalized front-page newspaper they can keep.