This is a list of famous nurses in history. To be listed here, the nurse must already have a Wiki biography article. For background information see History of nursing and Timeline of nursing history. For nurses in art, film and literature see list of fictional nurses.

A-D

• Lady Harriet Acland (1750–1815), British noblewoman
• Saint Alda (died c. 1309), Italian Catholic saint
• Moyra Allen (1921–1996), helped develop the McGill Model of Nursing
• Allen Allensworth (1842–1914) famous African-American American Civil War soldier who started as a nurse
• Sir Jonathan Asbridge, first president of the UK's Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Charles Atangana (1880–1943), paramount chief of the Ewondo and Bane in Cameroon
• Martha Ballard (1735–1812), American frontier midwife, great-aunt of Clara Barton
• Nita Barrow (1916–1995), 5th Governor-General of Barbados who started as a nurse midwife and public health educator
• Clara Barton (1821–1912), organized the American Red Cross
• Christine Beasley CBE (born 1944), Chief Nursing Officer for England
• Irene L. Beland (1906–2000), American nursing educator, author of Clinical Nursing: Pathophysiological and Psychosocial Approaches
• Ann A. Bernatitus (1912–2003), one of the Angels of Bataan - USN nurses in the Philippines in WW2
• Claire Bertschinger Swiss-British nurse who inspired the Band Aid charity movement
• Mary Ann Bickerdyke (1817–1901), nurse during the American Civil War known as "Mother Bickerdyke"
• Florence Blake (1907–1983), American pediatric nursing professor and author
• Florence A. Blanchfield (1884–1971), superintendent of the United States Army Nurse Corps
• Cecilia Blomqvist (1845–1890), Finnish deaconess
• Kath Bonnin (1911 – 1985) was an Australian army nurse during WW2^[1]
• Angela Boškin (1885–1977), first professionally trained Slovenian nurse and social worker in Yugoslavia
• Hilda Bowen (1923–2002), credited with establishing the modern nursing profession in The Bahamas
• Jo Brand (born 1957), British nurse-turned-comedian
• Elsa Brändström (1888–1948), Swedish World War I Red Cross nurse in Siberia
• Mary Carson Breckinridge (1881–1965), founder of the Frontier Nursing Service
• Vera Brittain (1893–1970), WWI nurse
• Mary Francis Bridgeman (1813–1888), nun and Crimean War nurse
• Ellen Johanne Broe (1900–1994) Danish nurse and nursing educator
• Anna Broms (1862–1890), first professionally trained nurse in Finland
• Viola Davis Brown (1936–2017), first African-American to lead a state office of public health nursing in the United States
• Abraão José Bueno (born 1977), Brazilian nurse and serial killer
• Carrie E. Bullock (1887–1962), African American nurse
• Vivian Bullwinkel (1915–2000), lone survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, celebrated by the Australian Service Nurses Memorial
• Elizabeth Burchill (1904–2003) was an Australian nurse, philanthropist and author
• Betsi Cadwaladr (1789–1860), Welsh nurse who worked alongside Florence Nightingale in the Crimea
• Amanda Cajander, (1827–1871), pioneer in the education of deaconesses and nursing in Finland
• Maude E. Callen (1898–1990), American 20th century nurse-midwife
• John Campbell, British nurse, nursing educator, and YouTuber
• Vice Admiral Richard Carmona (born 1949), Surgeon General of the United States
• Dr Peter Carter OBE, British nurse and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing
• Anne Casey, New Zealand-born pediatric British nurse who developed Casey's model of nursing
• Edith Cavell (1865–1915), heroine of World War I
• Maria Cederschiöld (deaconess) (1815–1892), pioneer in the education of deaconesses and nursing in Sweden
• Ellen Christensen (1913–1998), Danish nurse and resistance fighter
• Luther Christman (1915–2011), first male dean of a U.S. nursing program; established the Rush model of nursing
• Dame June Clark (born 1941), Professor at University of Swansea
• Louise Conring (1824–1891), first professionally trained nurse in Denmark, head of Copenhagen's Deaconess Institute
• Lady Diana Cooper, prominent social figure in London and Paris, widely acknowledged as the beauty of the century
• Cubah Cornwallis (died 1848), Jamaican nurse and "doctoress" who treated Nelson and William IV when they were stationed in the West Indies
• Paul Crawford (born 1963), pioneer of the field of health humanities
• Evelyn May Cridlan (1889–1961), British nurse and ambulance driver in the First World War
• Harriet Patience Dame (1815–1900), nurse during the American Civil War, served with the 2nd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry
• Grace Ebun Delano (born 1935), pioneer of reproductive health services in Nigeria
• Jane Delano (1862–1919), founder of the American Red Cross Nursing Service
• Maria de Villegas de Saint-Pierre (1870–1941) founded the Saint-Camille Nursing School and directed the Élisabeth Hospital in Poperinge during World War I
• Edith DeVoe (1921–2000) 1st African-American nurse to serve in the regular Navy, World War II and Korean War nurse
• Marion Dewar (1928–2008), mayor of Ottawa and a member of the Parliament
• Louise Dietrich (1878–1962), suffragist and nurse in Texas
• Dorothea Dix (1802–1887), superintendent of Army Nurses during the American Civil War
• Josephine Dolan (1913–2004), nursing historian and educator at the University of Connecticut
• Mary Donaldson, Baroness Donaldson of Lymington (1921–2003), Lord Mayor of London
• Sister Dora (1832–1878), British 19th century nurse
• Ellen Dougherty (1844–1919), first professionally trained Registered Nurse in New Zealand
• Rosalie Dreyer (1895–1987) Swiss-born, naturalized British nurse and administrator who led the conversion from a volunteer service to the profession of nursing in Britain
• Lucy Lincoln Drown (1848–1934), American nursing educator
• Diane Duane (born 1952) American science fiction and fantasy author
• Lois Dunbar (fl. 1861–1864), American Civil War nurse

E-L

• Sarah Emma Edmundson (1841–1898), Canadian-American author who served with the Union Army in the American Civil War
• Alice Gordon Elliott OBE (1886–1977), Australian nurse and community worker
• Victoria Joyce Ely (1889-1979), Florida's first licensed midwife. Conducted training programs for midwives in the state
• Queen Fabiola of Belgium (1928–2014)
• Saint Fabiola (died 399)
• Helen Fairchild (1885–1918), World War I nurse
• Florence Farmborough (1887–1978), British nurse who kept diaries of her service during World War I as a Red Cross nurse with the Imperial Russian army
• Ainna Fawcett-Henesy, former Regional Adviser on Nursing and Midwifery for Europe for WHO
• Ethel Gordon Fenwick (1856–1947), British nurse who campaigned for a law limiting nursing to "registered" nurses only
• Erna Flegel (1911–2006), Adolf Hitler's nurse
• Alma E. Foerster (1885–1967), American nurse who served in World War I, received the Florence Nightingale Medal (1920) and then worked in the United States Public Health Service
• Edna Lois Foley (1878–1943), American nurse
• Elizabeth Warham Forster (1886–1972), American nurse who served the Navajo Nation and advocated for their retention of traditional medicine practices
• Edith de Magalhães Fraenkel (1889-1969), Brazilian nurse
• Michiko Fujiwara (1900–1983), Japanese nurse who later became a politician
• Genevieve de Galard, French nurse during the French war in Indochina
• Nelly Garzón Alarcón (1932–2019), Colombian nurse, teacher; first Latin American nurse to be president of the International Council of Nurses
• Eliza George (1808–1865), American Civil War nurse
• Abigail Hopper Gibbons (1801–1893), abolitionist activist during the American Civil War
• Helen L. Gilson (1836–1868), American Civil War nurse
• Stella Goostray (1886–1969), American nurse, author and educator
• Marjory Gordon, nursing theorist and professor who created a nursing assessment theory known as Gordon's functional health patterns
• Kate Gosselin, American television personality
• Dorothy Granada (b. 1930), American nurse, humanitarian, and peace and social justice activist who founded a women's healthcare clinic in Mulukukú, Nicaragua and was awarded the International Pfeffer Peace Award in 1997
• Elinor D. Gregg (1889–1970), American public nurse
• Cathinka Guldberg (1840–1919), first professionally trained nurse in Norway
• Cornelia Hancock (1839–1926), American Civil War nurse
• Jean Evelyn Headberry (1911–1993), Australian registered nurse and midwife and recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal
• Lucille Hegamin (1894–1970), blues recording artist
• Eliza Parks Hegan (1861–1917), Canadian nurse
• Bodil Hellfach (1856–1941), Danish nurse, deputy head of the Danish Nurses' Organization
• Virginia Henderson (1897–1996), 'First Lady of Nursing", American nurse theorist
• Monina Hernandez, first Filipino nurse to be appointed to the Nursing Council of New Zealand^[2] and first Filipino elected as director of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation^[3]
• Mary A. Hickey (1874–1954), American nurse and health administrator
• Lenah Higbee (1874–1941), pioneering U.S. Navy nurse during World War I
• Gerda Höjer (1893-1974), recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal and President of the International Council of Nurses
• Anna Morris Holstein (1825-1900), Civil War Nurse, Matron-in-Chief, from Gettysburg to Virginia, Author of Three Years in Field Hospitals Of The Army Of The Potomac
• Dame Agnes Hunt (1867-1948), British Orthopaedic Nursing pioneer
• Alberta Hunter (1895-1984), jazz singer
• Rachela Hutner (1909-2008) Polish pioneer nurse, credited with establishing the modern Polish nursing profession
• Euphemia Steele Innes RRC DN (1874–1955), Scottish nurse, matron of Leeds General Infirmary and of 2nd Northern General Hospital, founded Leeds Nurses' League
• Calamity Jane (1852-1903), American frontierswoman and nurse
• Sally Lucas Jean (1878–1971), American health educator and nurse
• Victoria Jensen (1847–1930), deaconess, nursing supervisor, from 1914 head of Copenhagen's Deaconess Institute
• Hazel Johnson-Brown (1927-2011), first African-American head of the United States Army Nurse Corps
• June Jolly (1928–2016), British pioneer of children's nursing
• Liliane Juchli (1933-2020), Swiss nurse and author/editor of a highly influential nursing textbook
• Ani Kalayjian Syrian born Armenian American academic, nurse, and founder of Meaningful World
• Carol Kefford (born 1958), British nurse and administrator
• Virginia Clinton Kelley (1923-1994), mother of United States President Bill Clinton
• Alicia Mary Kelly (1874 – 1942) was awarded the Military Medal and the Royal Red Cross.^[4]
• Dame Betty Kershaw, Professor at Sheffield
• Eunice Muringo Kiereini, (born 1939), Chief Nursing Officer of Kenya and first African president of the International Council of Nurses
• Docia Kisseih, (1919-2008), initiated advances in nursing and nurse training in post-independence Ghana
• Thora Knudsen (1861–1950), Danish nurse, trades unionist and women's rights activist
• Ashley Leechin, American social media personality and nurse
• Nancy J. Lescavage, Director of the Navy Nurse Corps
• Daurene Lewis, nurse and first black woman mayor in North America
• Janet Lim (1923-2014), nurse at St. Andrew's Community Hospital. She was the first nurse from Singapore to study in Britain. She was inducted as 2014 Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.^[5]
• Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882), volunteer nurse during the American Civil War
• Kate Lorig, professor at Stanford University School of Medicine
• Ljubica Luković, (1858-1915) established the first nurses' training course in Serbia and in 1925 was posthumously awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal
• Courtney Lyder (born 1966), first black dean of the UCLA School of Nursing^[6]

M-R

• Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (1897-1965)
• Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1946), first professionally trained African-American nurse
• Jeanne Mance (1606-1673), French nurse, founder of Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (1645)
• Sophie Mannerheim (1863-1928), pioneer of modern nursing in Finland
• Marie Manthey (born 1935), one of the originators of Primary Nursing
• Louise de Marillac (1591-1660), founder of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul
• Kate Marsden (1859-1931), British missionary nurse and explorer
• Sister M. T. Martin (1881-1929) Australian sister who made graffiti in Egypt
• Anna Maxwell (1851–1929), U.S. Army nurse whose activities were crucial to the growth of professional nursing in America
• Carolyn McCarthy, American politician
• Mabel Mary McCutcheon MBE (1886 – 1942) was a British born nurse who established health facilities at Port Adelaide
• Jean McFarlane, Baroness McFarlane of Llandaff
• Louisa McLaughlin (1836-1921), one of the first British Red Cross nurses, served in two wars
• Louise McManus, first nurse to earn a PhD Referred to as Louise McManus
• M. Helena McMillan (1869 – 1970), Canadian-American nursing educator
• Agda Meyerson, (1866-1924) pioneering Swedish nurse
• Anne Milton (born 1955), British Member of Parliament
• Jane Minor, aka Gensey Snow, 1792–1858, African-American healer, midwife, and slave emancipator
• Naomi Mitchison (1897-1999), British novelist and poet
• Jeannine Moquin-Perry, Canadian religious and political activist
• Sarah Mullally (born 1962) British Chief Nursing Officer and Bishop of London
• Charlotte Munck (1876–1932), Danish nurse, important figure in the training of nurses
• Annie Murray (1906-1996) Scottish nurse who went to the Spanish Civil War
• Razan al-Najar (1996/1997-2018), Palestinian nurse shot during a rescue in 2018 Gaza border protests
• Elizabeth Grace Neill (1846-1926), Kiwi nurse
• Bonnie Nettles (1927-1985), co-leader of the Heaven's Gate religious cult
• Nora Neve (1873-1952), pioneer of missionary nursing in Kashmir
• Mary Ann Brown Newcomb (1817–1892, American Civil War nurse following the Battle of Fort Donelson
• Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), pioneer of modern nursing
• Lucille Elizabeth Notter (1907-1993), American nurse and nursing researcher
• Clara Noyes (1869-1946), enrolled 20,000 Red Cross nurses for World War I service, founded the first school for midwives in the U.S.
• Mary Adelaide Nutting (1858–1948), Canadian nurse, educator, and pioneer in the field of hospital care
• Lucy Osburn (1836-1891), Australia's first professionally trained nurse
• Katherine Olmsted (1888–1964), American Red Cross nurse
• Emily Elizabeth Parsons (1824-1880) American Civil War nurse, hospital administrator, and founder of Mt. Auburn Hospital
• Sara E. Parsons (1864-1949), American nurse, writer and health administrator
• Emma Maria Pearson (1828–93), writer and one of the first British Red Cross nurses, served in two wars
• Hildegard Peplau, first published nursing theorist since Florence Nightingale. She created the middle-range nursing theory of interpersonal relations
• Anita Thigpen Perry, First Lady of Texas
• Jill Pettis, New Zealand Member of Parliament
• Lynne Pillay, New Zealand Member of Parliament
• Kerry Prendergast, Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand
• Tom Quinn, influential UK Professor of Cardiac nursing
• Halima Rafat, pioneer Afghan nurse and women's rights activist, one of the first nurses of her country
• Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, nurse and Miss America 1988
• Emmy Rappe (1835-1896), first professionally trained Swedish nurse, pioneer in the education of nurses
• Rebecca Raymer, American politician and nurse
• Claire Rayner (1931–2010), British journalist, agony aunt and activist
• Dorothy E. Reilly (1920-1996), American nurse and nursing educator
• Anna Reynvaan (1844-1920), first professionally trained nurse in The Netherlands.^[7]
• Linda Richards (1841-1930), America's first professionally trained nurse
• Isabel Hampton Robb, helped develop early programs of nursing education
• Rachel Robinson (born 1922), wife of baseball star Jackie Robinson
• Elaine Roe, U.S. Army nurse, one of the first four women to be awarded the Silver Star
• Debbie Rowe (born 1958), wife of singer Michael Jackson

S-Z

• Margaret Sanger (1879-1966), founder of the U.S. birth control movement.
• Betty Schmoll (1936-2015), founder of Hospice of Dayton, one of the first hospice programs in the United States.
• Lynda Scott, New Zealand MP.
• Mary Seacole (1805-1881), Jamaican British nurse in the Crimean War known as "the Black Florence Nightingale".
• Schwester Selma (1884-1984), German-Jewish head nurse in Jerusalem, known as "the Jewish Florence Nightingale".
• Flora Madeline Shaw (1864–1927), Canadian nurse and nursing teacher
• Nigar Shikhlinskaya (1871-1931), first professionally trained Azerbaijani nurse.
• Kapelwa Sikota (1928 – 2006), first Zambian registered nurse.
• Kathleen Simon, Viscountess Simon (1864-1955), British abolitionist.
• Jessie Sleet Scales (1865-1956), first black public health nurse in the United States.
• Myrah Keating Smith (1908-1994) nurse, midwife, only medical provider on Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands for two decades
• Mabel Keaton Staupers (1890-1989), advocate for racial equality in the nursing profession during era of American segregation.
• Daphne Steele (1929-2004), Guyanese Matron, was the first Black Matron in the British NHS.
• Margaretta Styles (1930-2005), American advocate for standardization of nursing credentials, University of California, San Francisco Nursing School dean, past president of the American Nurses Association and International Council of Nurses.
• Adah Belle Samuels Thoms (1870-1943), pioneering African-American rights activist, who fought for African-American nurses to be permitted to serve in the U.S. armed forces.
• Violetta Thurstan (1879-1978), nurse in WWI, decorated for bravery.
• Annie Rensselaer Tinker (1884-1924), volunteer nurse in WWI, suffragist, and philanthropist
• Sally Louisa Tompkins (1833-1916), humanitarian and philanthropist during the American Civil War.
• Harriet Tubman (c. 1822–1913), African-American abolitionist.
• Florence Wald (1917-2008), founder of the hospice movement in the U.S.
• Lillian Wald (1867-1940), founder of visiting nursing in the U.S.
• Jean Watson, an American nurse theorist and nursing professor, best known for her Theory of Human Caring.
• Faye Wattleton (born 1943), president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
• Elizabeth Wettlaufer (born 1967), Canadian serial killer who murdered eight of her patients with insulin injections.
• Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet, American Civil War nurse.
• Mary Opal Wolanin (1910 – 1997), American nurse and expert in eldercare
• Sarah Palmer Young (1830-1908), American Civil War nurse, author of a memoir.
• Tome Yoshida (1876-1963), Japanese nurse.
• Sophie Zahrtmann (1841–1925), deaconess, nurse, head of Copenhagen's Deaconess Institute