Famous people born on December 22 — and what else happened that day
If your birthday is December 22, you share it with Giacomo Puccini, Diane Sawyer, Meghan Trainor — and you were born under Capricorn, the sign of the ambitious, disciplined, and built for the long game.
Birthday basics for December 22
Capricorn ♑
Zodiac sign
Turquoise
Birthstone
Narcissus
Birth flower
356th
Day of the year
December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years), with 9 days still to come.
Famous people born on December 22
Giacomo Puccini — Italian composer of the operas La Bohème and Madama Butterfly (born 1858).
Diane Sawyer — American television journalist and longtime network news anchor (born 1945).
Meghan Trainor — American singer-songwriter who topped the charts with 'All About That Bass' (born 1993).
Also sharing the day:
Srinivasa Ramanujan (b. 1887) — self-taught Indian mathematical genius.
Lady Bird Johnson (b. 1912) — First Lady who championed highway beautification and wildflowers.
Ralph Fiennes (b. 1962) — actor of Schindler's List and the Harry Potter films.
December 22 in history
1808 — Beethoven's Fifth Symphony premiered at a marathon concert in Vienna.
1882 — Edward Johnson displayed the world's first electrically lit Christmas tree in New York City.
1937 — The Lincoln Tunnel opened to traffic, linking New Jersey and Manhattan under the Hudson River.
1938 — A fishing trawler off South Africa hauled up a living coelacanth, a fish thought extinct for millions of years.
1956 — Colo, the first gorilla ever born in a zoo, arrived at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio.
1989 — Berlin's Brandenburg Gate reopened after nearly three decades, reuniting East and West Berliners.
December 22 birthday questions
What zodiac sign is December 22?
Anyone born on December 22 is a Capricorn — ambitious, disciplined, and built for the long game.
What is the birthstone for December 22?
The birthstone for a December 22 birthday is Turquoise, and the birth flower is the Narcissus.
Who is the most famous person born on December 22?
Giacomo Puccini is among the best known — Italian composer of the operas La Bohème and Madama Butterfly (born 1858).
What happened on December 22?
In 1808, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony premiered at a marathon concert in Vienna.
What day of the year is December 22?
December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years), with 9 days still to come.
Make their day unforgettable
Know someone born on December 22? 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.