List of Famous people born in Naha, Japan

Rina Chinen is a Japanese entertainer, former singer, and TV actress. She is affiliated with Rising Production.

Mabuni Kenei was a Japanese martial arts expert, holder of the 10th Dan.

Shō Tai was the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom and the head of the Ryukyu Domain. His reign saw greatly increased interactions with travelers from abroad, particularly from Europe and the United States, as well as the eventual end of the kingdom and its annexation by Japan as Ryukyu Domain. In 1879, the deposed king was forced to relocate to Tokyo. In May 1885, in compensation, he was made a Kōshaku, the second tier of nobility within the Kazoku peerage system.

Shō Ten was the last crown prince of the Ryukyu Kingdom . He lost that title upon the abolition of the kingdom and the forced abdication of the king, his father, Shō Tai, in 1879, and later succeeded to the title of Marquess in the kazoku peerage following his father's death in 1901.

Gichin Funakoshi is the founder of Shotokan karate-do, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and is known as a "father of modern karate". Following the teachings of Anko Itosu and Anko Asato, he was one of the Okinawan karate masters who introduced karate, but after Ankō Itosu sensei, Funakoshi sensei's teacher, had introduced the art pre-1922, to the Japanese mainland in 1922. He taught karate at various Japanese universities and became honorary head of the Japan Karate Association upon its establishment in 1949.

Shō Shō , was the head of the Shō family, the former Ryukyuan royal family, and upon his father's death in 1920, he became head of the family and inherited the title of Marquess. Like most members of the kazoku system of peerage, and all heads of the Shō family since the abolition of the Ryukyu Kingdom, he lived in Tokyo for his whole life. He died in June 1923, and was succeeded by his son, Hiroshi Shō.

Shō Shin was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the third of the line of the Second Shō Dynasty. Shō Shin's long reign has been described as "the Great Days of Chūzan", a period of great peace and relative prosperity. He was the son of Shō En, the founder of the dynasty, by Yosoidon, Shō En's second wife, often referred to as the queen mother. He succeeded his uncle, Shō Sen'i, who was forced to abdicate in his favor.

Shō Sei was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1526 to 1555. He was the fifth son of King Shō Shin, who he succeeded.

Shūgorō Nakazato was an Okinawan martial artist. Described as a "one punch artist" by some of his American students, Nakazato developed his karate sparring into "a fine fighting art". He gave many demonstrations in Japan as well as abroad and had "many well-known students in the USA", Nakazato was designated as an "intangible cultural asset holder" by Okinawa Prefecture in 2000. He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 5th Class with Gold and Silver Rays on November 4, 2007.

Fusako Kushi was a female writer from Okinawa. Her most notable work is Memoirs of a Declining Ryukyuan Woman, which was received with hostility and outrage.