The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Academics and writing
Dan Brown (born 1964), author
Lisa Bunker, author, NH state representative
Andrew Coburn (1932–2018), author
Sidney Darlington (1906–1997), electrical engineer; inventor of the Darlington pair William Perry Fogg (1826–1909), author, adventurer Michael Golay, historian, author Thomas Hassan, 14th principal of Phillips Exeter Academy; husband of New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan Todd Hearon, poet, musician Daniel Heartz (1928–2019), musicologist Charles Snead Houston (1913–2009), mountaineer, medical doctor, Peace Corps administrator, author John Irving (born 1942), author Dolores Kendrick (1927–2017), author, poet laureate of the District of Columbia, teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy John Knowles (1926–2001), author Dudley Leavitt (1772–1851), publisher of Farmers Almanack and Miscellaneous Yearbook John Phillips (1719–1795), founder of Phillips Exeter Academy along with his wife Elizabeth William Robinson (benefactor) (1794-1864), school founder Edward L. Rowan (), psychiatrist, author, Scouting leader Tabitha Gilman Tenney (1762–1837), novelist, proto-feminist James Monroe Whitfield (1822–1871), abolitionist poet "America and other poems" published 1853
Arts
Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), sculptor Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial Elizabeth Jane Gardner (1837–1922), painter Jack Storms (born 1970), glass sculptor, entrepreneur; uses cold glass (fabricated glass) sculpting process to create his works; his glass Spectrum Cube and Tear Drop sculptures were used in the Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy
Business
Enoch Poor (1736–1780), ship builder, merchant; Continental Army brigadier general Ambrose Swasey (1846–1937), mechanical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, manager, astronomer, philanthropist Edward Tuck (1842–1938), banker, diplomat, philanthropist
Music
Gregory W. Brown (born 1974), musician, pianist
Lloyd Ahlquist (born 1977), a.k.a EpicLLOYD, internet musician/rapper
Daniel Cartier (born 1969), singer and actor
Patrick Baril (born 1982), a.k.a Statik Selektah, DJ, producer, CEO of Showoff Records Dan Zanes (born 1961), lead singer of The Del Fuegos and Dan Zanes and Friends
Politics and law
Frank C. Archibald (1857–1935), Vermont Attorney General
Charles H. Bell (1823–1893), U.S. senator, 38th Governor of New Hampshire
Lewis Cass (1782–1866), 2nd Territorial Governor of Michigan, President pro tempore of the Senate, 22nd U.S. Secretary of State Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn (1783–1851), lawyer, soldier, U.S. congressman from Massachusetts Nicholas Emery (1776–1861), judge, legislator from Maine Nathaniel Folsom (1726–1790), Founding Father, merchant, militia general, delegate to the Continental Congress John Taylor Gilman (1753–1828), 7th and 12th Governor of New Hampshire Nicholas Gilman, Jr. (1755–1814), Founding Father, signer of U.S. Constitution Maggie Hassan (born 1958), 81st Governor of New Hampshire, U.S. senator Adam Lanza (1992–2012), mass murderer Moses Leavitt (1650–1730), early Exeter settler, selectman, Moderator of the General Court Gilman Marston (1811–1890), U.S. congressman, senator; Union Army general Caesar Nero Paul (c. 1741–1823), ex-slave, soldier and founder of a prominent family of abolitionists Tristram Shaw (1786–1843), U.S. congressman Henry Shute (1856–1943), lawyer, judge, author of "Plupy Shute" series Amos Tuck (1810–1879), attorney and congressman in New Hampshire; a founder of the Republican Party Rev. John Wheelwright (–1679), clergyman, founder of Exeter
Religion
Tristram Gilman (1735–1809), minister, descendant of the sixth generation of the town's early settler, Edward Gilman Thomas Paul (1773-1831), minister and abolitionist; founder of the First African Baptist Church in Boston, currently known as the African Meeting House.
Sports
Victoria Arlen (born 1994), Paralympian swimmer
Chris Carpenter (born 1975), pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals Fred Frame (1894–1962), auto racer, 1932 Indianapolis 500-winner Heather Jackson (born 1984), professional triathlete Kevin Romine (born 1961), right fielder for the Boston Red Sox Timothy Shinnick Major League Baseball second baseman from 1890 to 1891. He played for the Louisville Colonels. Hunter Long (born 1998), Tight End for the Miami Dolphins