List of Famous people with last name Elder

Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder, Latinized as Nicephorus Bryennius, was a Byzantine general who tried to establish himself as Emperor in the late eleventh century. His contemporaries considered him the best tactician in the empire.

Caspar Bartholin the Elder was a Danish physician, scientist and theologian.

Lucas Franchoys the Elder or Lucas Francois (1574–1643) was a Flemish painter of history paintings and portraits.

George Dance the Elder was a British architect of the 18th century. He was the City of London surveyor and architect from 1735 until his death.

Jacob Praetorius (I) or Jacob Praetorius the Elder was a German organist and composer. He was the father of Hieronymus Praetorius and the grandfather of Jacob Praetorius the Younger, both also composers.

Peter Du Cane , a descendant of Jean Du Quesne, the elder and son of Pierre du Quesne and Jeanne Maurois, was a third generation English-born descendant in a family of prominent and noble Huguenot refugees who escaped from Flanders and originally settled in Canterbury in the reign of Elizabeth I, following the persecutions carried on in the low countries under the Duke of Alba. The second generation of the family settled in London and acquired citizenship. Peter Du Cane became an Alderman of the City of London (1666) and an elder of the French Protestant Church in Threadneedle Street.

Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder was a German anatomist born in Wetzlar. He often has "the Elder" appended to his name to avoid confusion with his famous grandson Johann Friedrich Meckel (1781–1833), who was also an anatomist and often has "the Younger" included with his name. The elder Meckel's son, Philipp Friedrich Theodor Meckel (1755–1803) and another grandson, August Albrecht Meckel (1790–1829) were also anatomists.

Leo Phokas was an early 10th-century Byzantine general of the noble Phokas clan. As Domestic of the Schools, the Byzantine army's commander-in-chief, he led a large-scale campaign against the Bulgarians in 917, but was heavily defeated at the battles of Acheloos and Katasyrtai. He then plotted to seize the throne from the young Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, but was outmaneuvered by the admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who managed to become guardian and later father-in-law of the Emperor. After Lekapenos seized control of the Byzantine Empire, Leo led an unsuccessful revolt, and was captured and blinded.

Friedrich Preller the Elder was a German landscape painter and etcher. From 1832 he was a professor at the Fürstlichen freien Zeichenschule in Weimar. He was the father of the artist Friedrich Preller the Younger.