List of Famous people born in Latvia

Wilhelm Kettler was the Duke of Courland, a Baltic German region in today’s Latvia. Wilhelm ruled the western Courland portion of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, while his brother Friedrich ruled the eastern Semigallia portion.

Fridrikh Markovich Ermler was a Soviet film director, actor, and screenwriter. He was a four-time recipient of the Stalin Prize.

Duke Alexander of Württemberg was a member of the dynasty which ruled the German kingdom of Württemberg. To marry a daughter of the French king he agreed that their children would be raised in their mother's faith, thereby becoming ancestor of the Roman Catholic branch of his family.

Alexei Shirov is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.

Martins Dukurs is a Latvian skeleton racer who has competed since 1998. He is a six-time world champion in men's skeleton, a double Olympic silver winner, and the athlete with the most World Cup titles, having won eight consecutive titles between 2010 and 2017, plus one additional title in 2020.

Alexander of Courland, nicknamed "Alexander the One-armed", was a Baltic German prince and the brother of Duke Frederick (II) Casimir of Courland. He was the youngest son of Jakob Kettler (1610–1682), Duke of Courland and his wife Luise Charlotte von Brandenburg (1617–1676), eldest daughter of Prince elector Georg Wilhelm von Brandenburg. He was a member of the Kettler dynasty.

Friedrich Kettler was Duke of Courland and Semigallia from 1587 to 1642.

Genrikh Osipovich Graftio was a Russian/Soviet engineer credited as a pioneer of the hydroelectric station construction, as one of the founders of the GOELRO plan, and notable for the construction of the first hydroelectric stations in the Soviet Union, the Volkhov Hydroelectric Station in Volkhov and the Lower Svir Hydroelectric Station in Svirstroy.