List of Scotch-Irish Americans
This is a list of notable Scotch-Irish Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants. The Scotch-Irish trace their ancestry to Lowland Scottish and Northern English people, but through having stayed a few generations in Ulster. This list is ordered by surname within section. To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Scotch-Irish American or must have references showing they are Scotch-Irish American and are notable.
Political/military
[Presidents of [the United States|U.S. presidents]]
Many Presidents of the United States have ancestral links to Ulster, including three whose parents were born in Ulster. The Irish Protestant vote in the U.S. has not been studied nearly as much as that of the Catholic Irish. In the 1820s and 1830s, supporters of Andrew Jackson emphasized his Irish background, as did James Knox Polk, but since the 1840s it has been uncommon for a Protestant politician in America to be identified as Irish, but rather as 'Scotch-Irish'. In Canada, by contrast, Irish Protestants remained a cohesive political force well into the 20th century, identified with the then Conservative Party of Canada and especially with the Orange Institution, although this is less evident in today's politics.More than one-third of all U.S. Presidents had substantial ancestral origins in the northern province of Ireland. President Bill Clinton spoke proudly of that fact, and his own ancestral links with the province, during his two visits to Ulster. Like most US citizens, most US presidents are the result of a "melting pot" of ancestral origins.
Clinton is one of at least seventeen chief executives descended from emigrants to the United States from Ulster. While many of the presidents have typically Ulster-Scots surnames – Jackson, Johnson, McKinley, Wilson – others, such as Roosevelt and Cleveland, have links which are less obvious.
;Andrew Jackson
;James K. Polk
;James Buchanan
;Andrew Johnson
;Ulysses S. Grant
;Chester A. Arthur
;Grover Cleveland
;Benjamin Harrison
;William McKinley
;Theodore Roosevelt
;William Howard Taft
;Woodrow Wilson
;Harry S. Truman
;Lyndon B. Johnson
;Richard Nixon
;Jimmy Carter
;George H. W. Bush
;Bill Clinton
;George W. Bush
;Barack Obama
U.S. vice presidents">Vice President of the United States">U.S. vice presidents
- George Clinton
- John C. Calhoun
- John C. Breckinridge
- Adlai Stevenson I
- Henry A. Wallace
- Alben W. Barkley
- Nelson Rockefeller
- Al Gore
- JD Vance
[Speaker of the [United States House of Representatives|Speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives]]
U.S. Supreme Court justices">List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States">U.S. Supreme Court justices
- John Rutledge
- William Paterson
- Samuel Nelson
- John Marshall Harlan
- Joseph Rucker Lamar
- James Clark McReynolds
- John Hessin Clarke
- Hugo Black
- Wiley Blount Rutledge
- John Marshall Harlan II
U.S. Cabinet">Cabinet of the United States">U.S. Cabinet
- Henry Knox
- James McHenry
- John Breckinridge
- John Armstrong Jr.
- Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart
- Robert McClelland
- John Aaron Rawlins
- Alphonso Taft
- Jacob M. Dickinson
- William Jennings Bryan
- Andrew Mellon
- Frank Polk
- Harry M. Daugherty
- Henry Cantwell Wallace
- William Cohen
- John Kerry
- Jeff Sessions
U.S. Senate">United States Senate">U.S. Senate
- Alexander Martin
- John E. Colhoun
- DeWitt Clinton
- Jenkin Whiteside
- Thomas Posey
- William Findlay
- Jeremiah Morrow
- Hugh Lawson White
- William Alexander Graham
- Sam Houston
- Trusten Polk
- James L. Alcorn
- John W. Johnston
- Mark Hanna
- William A. Clark
- John H. Bankhead
- Thomas Gore
- Joseph M. McCormick
- John H. Bankhead II
- Theodore G. Bilbo
- Charles L. McNary
- Robert A. Taft
- Kingsley A. Taft
- Albert Gore Sr.
- Adlai Stevenson III
- Robert Taft Jr.
- Birch Bayh
- Mitch McConnell
- Jay Rockefeller
- John McCain
- Evan Bayh
- Lamar Alexander
- Lindsey Graham
- Jim Webb
- Rob Portman
Governors">Governor (United States)">Governors
- John McKinly
- George Bryan
- Joseph Reed
- Thomas McKean
- George Mathews
- Edward Rutledge
- Archibald Roane
- Andrew Pickens
- Alexander McNair
- Charles Polk Jr.
- Robert P. Dunlap
- David R. Porter
- William F. Johnston
- William Trousdale
- William B. Campbell
- Beriah Magoffin
- Hamilton Rowan Gamble
- John W. Geary
- Edward M. McCook
- P. B. S. Pinchback
- Edwin Stanton McCook
- Charles Croswell
- Henry M. Mathews
- George B. McClellan
- Andrew Ryan McGill
- Royal C. Taft
- James E. Boyd
- John P. Buchanan
- William S. Taylor
- Andrew H. Longino
- Paul V. McNutt
- Adlai Stevenson II
- Winthrop Rockefeller
- Mike Huckabee
- Bob Taft
U.S. House Representatives">United States House of Representatives">U.S. House Representatives
- James Gordon
- James Armstrong
- William Armstrong
- William Irvine
- Andrew Pickens
- John Rhea
- George Clinton Jr.
- Joseph Calhoun
- James Breckinridge
- James D. Breckinridge
- Alexander Smyth
- Davy Crockett
- James Harper
- James Graham
- James Harlan
- Archibald Stuart
- Horace Greeley
- Thompson Campbell
- William Hawkins Polk
- William M. Tweed
- James S. Rollins
- Alexander Wilson Taylor
- Harry White
- Anson G. McCook
- Henry L. Muldrow
- Clifton R. Breckinridge
- William C. P. Breckinridge
- John M. Wiley
- David Archibald Harvey
- Charles Phelps Taft
- George B. McClellan Jr.
- L. Irving Handy
- George Henry White
- Rufus King Polk
- Ruth Hanna McCormick
- Helen Gahagan Douglas
- John Dingell
- Mike McCormack
- John B. Breckinridge
- Rob Andrews
- Gwen Graham
- Charlie Crist
U.S. military">United States Armed Forces">U.S. military officers">Officer (armed forces)">officers
- John Armstrong Sr.
- Nathan Bedford Forrest
- Cabell Breckinridge
- Joseph Cabell Breckinridge Sr.
- Charles Clinton
- James Clinton
- William Crawford
- Samuel Dale
- John Dunlap
- James Ewing
- David Farragut
- William Gamble
- Thomas Gaddis
- Daniel Harvey Hill
- Stonewall Jackson
- Robert Jefferson Breckinridge Jr.
- John J. Kennedy
- Richard King Mellon
- Robert Latimer McCook
- Andrew Lewis
- John Mathews
- Sampson Mathews
- William Maxwell
- John S. McCain Sr.
- John S. McCain Jr.
- Bruce McCandless
- Bruce McCandless II
- Byron McCandless
- Samuel McClellan
- John B. McClelland
- John McClelland
- Daniel McCook
- Daniel McCook Jr.
- Robert R. McCormick
- John P. McCown
- Benjamin McCulloch
- Alexander McDowell McCook
- Samuel McDowell
- Thomas McInerney
- James W. McLaughlin
- H. R. McMaster
- Hector McNeill
- Richard Montgomery
- Thomas Z. Morrow
- Audie Murphy
- Arthur Noble
- Mason Patrick
- George S. Patton Sr.
- George S. Patton
- George Patton IV
- Waller T. Patton
- Leonidas Polk
- Thomas Polk
- William Polk
- James Potter
- Bowes Reed
- Archibald Roosevelt
- Quentin Roosevelt
- Griffith Rutherford
- James Smith
- John Stark
- Walter Stewart
- J. E. B. Stuart
- Matthew Thornton
- James White
- George Wythe McCook
Others
- James G. Birney
- George W. Clinton
- Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr.
- James Logan
- Francis Makemie
- George S. Patton Jr.
- Winthrop Paul Rockefeller
- George Taylor
- Charles Thomson
- Timothy Murphy
Entertainment
- Karen Allen, of English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh descent
- Billie Joe Armstrong
- Mary Astor, maternal grandmother was of Scotch-Irish heritage
- Alec Baldwin
- Daniel Baldwin
- Stephen Baldwin
- William Baldwin
- Tallulah Bankhead
- Kim Basinger
- Warren Beatty, of part Scotch-Irish descent
- Justin Bieber, of part descent
- Johnny Cash
- June Carter Cash
- Jessica Chastain, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Eddie Cochran
- Rory Cochrane
- Kurt Cobain, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Charles Coburn
- James Coburn
- Emily Deschanel, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Zooey Deschanel, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Janice Dickinson, father of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Shannen Doherty, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Michael Douglas, his Bermudian mother Diana Dill is of part Ulster Scots ancestry
- Haylie Duff, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Shelley Duvall
- Aaron Eckhart
- Carrie Fisher, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Megan Fox, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Stephen Foster
- Zach Galifianakis, his mother is partially of Scotch-Irish descent
- Crystal Gayle
- Judy Garland, she was of Irish, English, Scottish and French Huguenot ancestry
- Mel Gibson
- Summer Glau, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Edna Goodrich
- Martha Graham
- Moby small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Merle Haggard
- Barbara Hale
- Armie Hammer, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Smith Hart
- Bruce Hart
- Keith Hart
- Wayne Hart
- Dean Hart
- Bret Hart
- Ross Hart
- Diana Hart
- Owen Hart
- Colton Haynes
- Kate Hudson, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Oliver Hudson, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Anjelica Huston
- Danny Huston
- John Huston
- Michael Keaton, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Val Kilmer
- Kris Kristofferson
- Burt Lancaster
- David Lynch, Scotch-Irish father
- Loretta Lynn
- Shirley MacLaine, of part Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Steve Martin
- Frank McCown, aka Rory Calhoun
- Reba McEntire, of part Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Robert Mitchum, partially of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Elizabeth Montgomery
- Agnes Moorehead
- Mikey Madison, one quarter of Scotch-Irish ancestry.
- Mary-Louise Parker, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Dolly Parton, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- John Nelson Pattison
- Lou Diamond Phillips, father was partly of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Brad Pitt
- Ryan Potter, mother was partly of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Elvis Presley, of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Dennis Quaid
- Burt Reynolds, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Debbie Reynolds
- Christina Ricci, of Irish, Italian and Scottish ancestry
- Axl Rose, father's line was Scotch-Irish
- Peter Sarsgaard, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Ricky Skaggs
- Ian Somerhalder, of part Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Richard St. Clair, father was of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- James Stewart
- Hilary Swank, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Maria Tallchief
- John Wayne, of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Hank Williams, Scotch-Irish mother
- Mary Elizabeth Winstead, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
- Jonathan Winters, small amount of Scotch-Irish ancestry
Literature
- L. Frank Baum
- William Faulkner
- Ellen Glasgow
- Cork Graham
- Stephen King
- Carson McCullers
- David McCullough
- Larry McMurtry
- Margaret Mitchell
- Edgar Allan Poe, paternal side of his family were Ulster Scots from County Cavan
- John Steinbeck
- Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens, family were from County Antrim
- Thomas Wolfe
Sports
- Mickey Cochrane
- Kirk Cousins
- Jeff Gordon
- Josh McCown
- Luke McCown
- Randy McCown
- Arnold Palmer
- Aaron Rodgers
- David Wright
- Keith Hernandez, maternal Scotch-Irish ancestry
Science and Industry
- Neil Armstrong
- James M. Buchanan
- Charles Stark Draper
- Timothy Eaton
- Robert Fulton
- Bill Gates
- J. Paul Getty
- James Irwin
- Jay Last
- James Laughlin
- Thomas Mellon
- Bruce McCandless II
- Cyrus McCormick
- Robert McCormick
- Samuel Morse
- Kary Mullis
- Charles Murray
- Harry Gordon Selfridge
- John Stephenson
- Alexander Turney Stewart
- James E. Webb