Famous people born on May 12 — and what else happened that day
If your birthday is May 12, you share it with Florence Nightingale, Katharine Hepburn, Tony Hawk — and you were born under Taurus, the sign of the steady, loyal, and a lover of life’s comforts.
Birthday basics for May 12
Taurus ♉
Zodiac sign
Emerald
Birthstone
Lily of the Valley
Birth flower
132nd
Day of the year
May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years), with 233 days still to come.
Famous people born on May 12
Florence Nightingale — English nurse who founded modern nursing (born 1820).
Katharine Hepburn — American actress who won a record four Best Actress Oscars (born 1907).
Tony Hawk — American professional skateboarder and video game icon (born 1968).
Also sharing the day:
Edward Lear (b. 1812) — English poet and illustrator who popularized the limerick and wrote "The Owl and the Pussycat."
Yogi Berra (b. 1925) — Yankees catcher who won 10 World Series and coined countless quotable "Yogi-isms."
Rami Malek (b. 1981) — American actor who won an Oscar playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.
May 12 in history
1926 — The airship Norge became the first aircraft verified to fly over the North Pole.
1937 — King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.
1949 — The Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, reopening land routes to the city.
1551 — The National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, was founded in Lima, Peru.
1941 — Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world's first working programmable computer, in Berlin.
2002 — Jimmy Carter arrived in Havana, becoming the first U.S. president, sitting or former, to visit Cuba since its 1959 revolution.
May 12 birthday questions
What zodiac sign is May 12?
Anyone born on May 12 is a Taurus — steady, loyal, and a lover of life’s comforts.
What is the birthstone for May 12?
The birthstone for a May 12 birthday is Emerald, and the birth flower is the Lily of the Valley.
Who is the most famous person born on May 12?
Florence Nightingale is among the best known — English nurse who founded modern nursing (born 1820).
What happened on May 12?
In 1926, The airship Norge became the first aircraft verified to fly over the North Pole.
What day of the year is May 12?
May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years), with 233 days still to come.
Make their day unforgettable
Know someone born on May 12? 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.