List of Famous people born in Leeuwarden, Kingdom of the Netherlands

Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. Despite her having admitted under interrogation to taking money to work as a German spy, many people still believe she was innocent because the French Army needed a scapegoat. She was executed by firing squad in France.

Sanne Wevers is a Dutch artistic gymnast. She has competed internationally as a senior since 2007, primarily as a balance beam and uneven bars specialist. Wevers is the 2016 Olympic and 2018 European champion on balance beam and was the first Dutch female gymnast to become an individual Olympic champion. She is also the 2015 World silver medalist on balance beam and the 2015 European bronze medalist on uneven bars.

Lieke Wevers is a Dutch artistic gymnast. She competed internationally as a senior from 2009 to 2016. She was the first Dutch woman to win a European title in gymnastics: at the 2015 European Games, she won the gold medal on the balance beam and was the bronze medalist with the Dutch team, in the individual all-around final, and on floor exercise. She also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Baron Joachim Ammena van Plettenberg was the governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 11 August 1771 to 14 February 1785. Plettenberg was presiding governor after Ryk Tulbagh's death. On 18 May 1774 he was permanently appointed as governor.

Piet Zanstra (1905-2003) was a Dutch architect who designed a number of important buildings in Amsterdam in the post-World War II period. He is best known, perhaps, for his Maupoleum, which was demolished in 1994, and for the Caransa Hotel, which still stands on the Rembrandtplein.

Maarten Pieter Tjallingii is a Dutch former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2003 and 2016.

Willem Canter (1542-1575) was a classical scholar from Utrecht. He edited the Eclogues of Stobaeus and the tragedies of Euripides, Sophocles and Aeschylus.

Johannes Henricus Gerardus Jansen was a former Archbishop of Utrecht and Roman Catholic Primate of the Netherlands. He was born in Leeuwarden, in the Dutch province of Friesland.

Francisca Wilhelmina "Cisca" Dresselhuys was the first head editor of the Dutch feminist monthly magazine Opzij from 1 November 1981 until 1 April 2008. Her journalistic career started at the daily Trouw.