List of Esperanto speakers

An Esperantist (Esperanto: esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperanto and uses it for any purpose.

Esperanto speakers at the 2008 International Youth Congress

List

Important Esperantists

Muztar Abbasi, Pakistani scholar, patron in chief of PakEsA, translated the Quran and many other works into Esperanto
William Auld, eminent Scottish Esperanto poet and nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature
Julio Baghy, poet, member of the Akademio de Esperanto and "Dad" ("Paĉjo") of the Esperanto movement
Henri Barbusse, French writer, honorary president of the first congress of the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
Kazimierz Bein, "Kabe", prominent Esperanto activist and writer who suddenly left the Esperanto movement without explanation
Émile Boirac, French writer and first president of the Esperanto language committee (later the Akademio de Esperanto)
Barry Friedman, well-known Esperanto-language author and translator
Antoni Grabowski, Polish chemical engineer, the father of Esperanto poetry
Lou Harrison, American composer of Esperanto music and translator of Sanskrit texts into Esperanto
Julia Isbrücker, Dutch Esperantist
Boris Kolker, Esperantist scholar and key member of the Akademio de Esperanto
Georges Lagrange, French Esperantist writer
Eugène Lanti, French Esperantist, founder of Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
John Edgar McFadyen, Scottish theologist and linguist
Wasaburo Oishi, Japanese meteorologist and the second board president of the Japanese Esperanto Institute from 1930 to 1945; published his discovery of jet streams in Esperanto
Frederic Pujulà i Vallès, pioneer of Esperanto in Spain
Louisa Frederica Adela Schafer, English Esperanto translator of hymns and languages teacher
Khailan Syamsu, pioneer of Esperanto in Indonesia, South Asia and within Islam.
Sándor Szathmári, leading figure of Esperanto literature
Anna Tuschinski, prominent Esperantist in the Free City of Danzig; "Mother of Esperanto"
L. L. Zamenhof, Polish ophthalmologist, inventor of Esperanto

Politicians

Kazimierz Badowski, member of the Communist Party of Poland, promoted Esperanto as part of the Trotskyism movement
Richard Bartholdt, U.S. Representative from Missouri
Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, one of the architects of the League of Nations, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Parley P. Christensen, Utah and California politician
Willem Drees, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958)
Alexander Dubček, head of state of Czechoslovakia that grew up on a utopian and Esperantist cooperative called Interhelpo
Heinz Fischer, President of the Republic of Austria
Małgorzata Handzlik, Polish member of the European Parliament
Ho Chi Minh, President of North Vietnam
Jean Jaurès, French politician that proposed to the International Socialist Congress at Stuttgart in 1907 the use of Esperanto for the information diffused by the Brussels Office of the organization
Franz Jonas, President of the Republic of Austria, Secretary of the Austrian Laborist Esperantist League and founder of Internacio de Socialistaj Esperantistoj ("International of Socialist Esperantists")
Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was said to have studied Esperanto by Leon Trotsky, though he later killed many Esperantists
Graham Steele, Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician
Josip Broz Tito, head of state of Yugoslavia^[1]

Writers

Nadija Hordijenko Andrianova, Ukrainian writer and translator
Maria Angelova, Bulgarian poet
Ba Jin, prolific Chinese novelist and chairman of Chinese Writer Association
Jane Baird, Scottish educator and one of the three compilers of the Edinburgh Esperanto Pocket Dictionary
Henri Barbusse, French writer, and honorary president of the first congress of the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
Louis de Beaufront, Esperantist writer
Gerrit Berveling, Dutch Esperantist poet, translator and editor of the Esperanto literary review, Fonto
Marjorie Boulton, British writer and poet in English and Esperanto; researcher and writer
Louise Briggs, translator of Shakespeare works and children's songs into Esperanto and teacher
Jorge Camacho, Spanish Esperantist writer
Vasili Eroshenko, Russian writer, Esperantist, linguist, and teacher
Petr Ginz, native Esperanto speaking boy who wrote an Esperanto-Czech dictionary but later died in a concentration camp at age 16; his drawing of the Moon was carried aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, and diary appears in Czech, Spanish, Catalan and Esperanto, and was recently published in English
Don Harlow, American Esperantist writer and webmaster of the United States Esperanto web-site.
Harry Harrison, American science fiction author and honorary president of the Esperanto Association of Ireland.
Hector Hodler, Swiss journalist, translator, organizer, and philanthropist
Hans Jakob, Swiss writer
Rosa Junck, Bohemian Esperantist and translator
Kálmán Kalocsay, Hungarian surgeon, poet, translator, and editor
Lena Karpunina, Tajik Esperantist short story writer
Ikki Kita, Japanese fascist author, intellectual and political philosopher
Georges Lagrange, French Esperanto writer, member of Academy of Esperanto
Ellen Kate Limouzin, music hall performer, suffragette and writer, aunt of George Orwell, member of Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
Anna Löwenstein, British Esperantist, writer, teacher
Kenji Miyazawa, Japanese poet and author of children's literature, such as Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜)
Nikolai Vladimirovich Nekrasov, Esperantist writer and translator of the Soviet Union
Mauro Nervi, Italian poet in the Esperanto language
Edmond Privat, Swiss author, journalist, university professor, and movement activist
João Guimarães Rosa, Brazilian novelist, short story writer and diplomat
Cezaro Rossetti, Scottish Esperantist writer
Magda Šaturová, Slovak translator who authored multiple Esperanto-Slovak dictionaries.
Lazër Shantoja, Albanian catholic saint, writer and translator
René de Saussure, Swiss writer and activist
Tibor Sekelj, Yugoslav-Hungarian author, explorer and polyglot, member of Academy of Esperanto
Tivadar Soros, Hungarian Jewish doctor, lawyer, author and editor
W. T. Stead, well-known philanthropist, journalist and pacifist who was aboard the Titanic when it sank
Þórbergur Þórðarson (Thorbergur Thortharson), Icelandic writer and Esperantist
J. R. R. Tolkien^[2]
Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer and philosopher, who claimed he learned how to write Esperanto after two hours of study
Julian Tuwim, Polish poet and translator
Vladimir Varankin, Russian writer
Jules Verne, French author, incorporated Esperanto into his last unfinished work The Barsac Mission
Halina Weinstein, Polish Esperanto teacher and poet, murdered by Nazis
Qian Xuantong, Chinese writer and linguist who pushed for the abolition of Classical Chinese, and supported the substitution of Spoken Chinese with Esperanto

Scientists

Daniel Bovet, Italian pharmacologist and winner of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, learned Esperanto as a first language
Sidney S. Culbert, American linguist and psychologist
Isaj Dratwer, Polish-Jewish bacteriologist and former president of the Esperanto League of Israel
Bertalan Farkas, Hungarian cosmonaut
Louis Lumière, French inventor of cinema, said: "The use of Esperanto could have one of the happiest consequences in its effects on international relations and the establishment of peace."
Fran Novljan, contributed to the promotion of Esperanto in Yugoslavia.
Wilhelm Ostwald, German Nobel laureate for his seminal work in chemical catalysis
Mark Pallen, British microbiologist
Claude Piron, Esperantist, psychologist, and linguist, translator for the United Nations
Reinhard Selten, German economist and winner of the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics because of his work on game theory. He has authored two books in Esperanto on that subject.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo, Spanish engineer, mathematician and inventor.
Yrjö Väisälä, Finnish astronomer, discovered asteroids 1421 Esperanto and 1462 Zamenhof
John C. Wells, British phonetician and Esperanto teacher
Wladimir Köppen, Russian geographer of German descent
Marcel Minnaert, Belgian astronomer who worked in Utrecht
Seok Joo-myung, Korean ecologist who studied and identified native butterflies of Korea
Claude Roux, French lichenologist and mycologist

Others

Sergio Aragonés, cartoonist, said that he speaks "Esperanto and several languages with varied degrees of fluency"^[3]
Baháʼí Faith adherents, many of whom have been involved with Esperanto (see Baháʼí Faith and auxiliary language), Lidia Zamenhof was a Baháʼí; several leading Baháʼís have spoken Esperanto, most notably the Son of Baháʼu'lláh, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá (see John Esslemont)
Titus Brandsma, Dutch Roman Catholic saint who celebrated mass in Esperanto and is the patron saint of Catholic Esperantists
Fredrick Brennan, founder of 8chan
Rudolf Carnap, German-born philosopher
Onisaburo Deguchi, one of the chief figures of the Oomoto religious movement in Japan and president of the Universala Homama Asocio ("Universal Human-love Association")
Miyoshi Etsuo, Japanese businessman^[4]
Alfred Hermann Fried, recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize and author of a textbook on Esperanto
Ebenezer Howard, known for his Garden Cities of To-morrow (1898), the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature
Franko Luin, Swedish type designer of Slovene nationality
John E. B. Mayor, English classical scholar, gave a historic speech against Esperanto reformists at the World Congress of Esperanto held at Cambridge
Frank Merrick, English composer
Alexander Nedoshivin, Russian tax specialist, one of the founders of the Esperanto Society at Kaunas, Lithuania
William Main Page, Secretary of Edinburgh Esperanto Society, editor and author
Pope John Paul II, gave several speeches using Esperanto during his career^[5]^[6]
László Polgár, Hungarian chess teacher
Susan Polgar, Hungarian-American chess grandmaster, taught Esperanto by her father László
George Soros, Hungarian-American billionaire and son of Esperantist parents; "Soros", a name selected by his father to avoid persecution, means "will soar" in Esperanto
Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant; he has stated Esperanto is one of the ten languages he speaks
Marcelle Tiard, French Esperantist who co-founded the Union of Esperantist Women
Antoon Jozef Witteryck, Belgian publisher and instructor

Sources

This page has been translated from the article fr:Espérantiste on the French Wikipedia, accessed on June 13, 2006.
Information on William Thomas Stead from the Esperanto Vikipedio article.

References

↑ Esperanto en Perspektivo, pp. 475 and 646, 1974.
↑ Smith, Arden R. (2006). "Esperanto". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-415-96942-0, and Book of the Foxrook Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine; transcription on Tolkien i Esperanto; the text begins with "PRIVATA KODO SKAŬTA" (Private Scout Code)
↑ Meglin, Nick (2001). Humorous Illustration (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 14. ISBN 0-8230-0270-5.
↑ Fuke, Tsukasa (April 10, 2023). "Meet the glove magnate using his fortune to boost Esperanto". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 11 December 2025.
↑ "Johano Paŭlo la 2a kaj Esperanto". www.ikue.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
↑ Who Supports Esperanto? Archived 2008-02-04 at the Wayback Machine

External links

100 eminentaj esperantistoj "100 eminent Esperantists" (eo)

[1] Esperanto en Perspektivo, pp. 475 and 646, 1974.

[2] Smith, Arden R. (2006). "Esperanto". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-415-96942-0, and Book of the Foxrook Archived 2017-02-02 at the Wayback Machine; transcription on Tolkien i Esperanto; the text begins with "PRIVATA KODO SKAŬTA" (Private Scout Code)

[3] Meglin, Nick (2001). Humorous Illustration (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 14. ISBN 0-8230-0270-5.

[4] Fuke, Tsukasa (April 10, 2023). "Meet the glove magnate using his fortune to boost Esperanto". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 11 December 2025.

[5] "Johano Paŭlo la 2a kaj Esperanto". www.ikue.org. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2024-01-26.

[6] Who Supports Esperanto? Archived 2008-02-04 at the Wayback Machine

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