List of Famous people born in May

Takahiro Kimura was a Japanese animator, illustrator and character designer. He died of amyloidosis on March 5, 2023.

Peter Merseburger was a German journalist and author. After working for newspapers and the magazine Der Spiegel, he moved to the broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in 1965. He became known as television presenter of the political magazine Panorama that he moderated from 1967 to 1975, presenting controversial themes. From 1977, he was correspondent of the ARD in several capital cities such as Washington, D.C., East Berlin and London. After retirement in 1991, he turned to writing biographies of influential persons including Kurt Schumacher, Willy Brandt, Rudolf Augstein, and Theodor Heuss.

James Albert Sethian is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the head of the Mathematics Group at the United States Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Jean-Claude Guillebaud is a French writer, essayist, lecturer and journalist.

Eileen Karen Lee Chin Foo Kune, born 29 May 1982 is a Mauritian badminton player, turned politician. Two times Mauritian Sportswoman of the Year, ranked first in the African continent on several occasions. She once participated at the Olympic Games (2008) and made it to the Commonwealth Games on several occasions. In 2011, she won the bronze medals at the All-Africa Games in the women's doubles and mixed team event.

Peter Adeberg is a German speed skater who also represented East Germany. He competed in the 1988, 1992, 1994, and 1998 Winter Olympics.

Pieter Timotheus "Tim" de Zeeuw is a Dutch astronomer specializing in the formation, structure and dynamics of galaxies. He was educated at Leiden, gaining a degree in mathematics in 1976 and one in astronomy in 1977. He graduated from Leiden with a PhD in astronomy in 1984. After stints in the US at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and at Caltech, he returned to the Netherlands in 1990 to become professor of theoretical astronomy at Leiden. In 2003, he was appointed the scientific director of Leiden Observatory, and from 2007 to 2017 he was the director general of ESO. In 2009, he was awarded the Brouwer Award by the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society. He is married to astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck. On 14 May 2018 at the annual Netherlands Astronomy Conference, he was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Jörn Leonhard is Professor of West European History at the History Department of the University of Freiburg. From 2007 to 2012, he was co-director of the School of History at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS). Hitherto his works have concentrated on the history of liberalism, nationalism, empire, and war.