This is a list of notable people who were born or have lived in Tambov, Tambov Oblast, Russia.

• Alexander Bezobrazov (1783–1871), Russian statesman
• Nikolay Gamalei (1795–1859), Russian statesman, Vitebsk governor, served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs

• Boris Chicherin (1828–1904), Russian jurist and political philosopher
• Nikolai Fyodorov (1829–1903), Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, who was part of the Russian cosmism movement and a precursor of transhumanism
• Ivan Minayev (1840–1890), the first Russian Indologist
• Constantin Fahlberg (1850–1910), Russian chemist
• Nikita Galakhov (1864–1912), inventor of the elliptical springs for the railroad carriages
• Vladimir Shchuko (1878–1939), Russian architect
• Sophia Satina (1879-1975), Russian botanist
• Nikolai Cholodny (1882–1953), Soviet influential microbiologist
• Vasily Agapkin (1884–1964), Russian and Soviet military orchestra conductor, composer, and author of the well-known march "Farewell of Slavianka" (written 1912)
• Maria Spiridonova (1884–1941), Russian socialist revolutionary
• Alexey Selezniev (1888–1967), Russian chess master and chess composer
• Vasili Vanin (1898–1951), Russian stage and film actor of the Soviet era
• Lev Kuleshov (1899–1970), Russian and Soviet filmmaker and film theorist

• Zoia Gaidai (1902–1965), Soviet Ukrainian opera soprano
• Andrey Kolmogorov (1903–1987), Russian mathematician
• Vera Faddeeva (1906–1983), Russian mathematician
• Valentin Avrorin (1907–1977), Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
• Ida Kar (1908–1974), photographer
• Ivan Dzerzhinsky (1909–1978), Russian composer
• Olga Ivinskaya (1912–1995), Russian poet and writer
• Valery Zhelobinsky (1913–1946), Russian composer and pianist
• Vladimir Svetilko (1915–1995), Russian lightweight weightlifter
• Victor Merzhanov (1919–2012), Russian pianist
• Pavel Bliznetsov (1913–1989), Russian Eastern Catholic priest and author

• Vladimir Teplyakov (1925–2009), Russian experimental physicist
• Victoria Barbă (1926–2020), Moldovan animated film director
• Vladimir Bolotin (1926–2008), Russian Mechanical engineer
• Vitaly Galkov (1939–1998), Soviet-born Russian sprint canoer
• Aleksandr Dokhlyakov (born 1942), Soviet cyclist
• Svetlana Babanina (born 1943), Soviet swimmer
• Yury Chernavsky (born 1947), Russian producer, composer and songwriter
• Oleg Betin (born 1950), Russian politician; governor of Tambov Oblast

• Victor Krylov (born 1952), Russian-born British academic
• Ludmila Engquist (Narozhilenko; born 1964), Soviet/Russian/Swedish athlete; champion sprinter
• Svetlana Nageykina (born 1965), Soviet/Russian cross-country skier
• Aleksandr Khalzov (born 1965), Russian professional footballer
• Sergey Kuznetsov (born 1966), Russian professional football coach and a former player
• Alexei Kovalev (born 1973), Russian football referee
• Aleksandr Malin (born 1973), Russian professional football coach and a former player
• Ruslan Sviridov (born 1973), Russian classical pianist, pedagogue
• Aleksandr Kudryashov (born 1974), Russian professional footballer
• Igor Neuchev (born 1974), Russian professional footballer
• Kyrylo Pospyeyev (born 1975), Ukrainian former professional cyclist
• Yekaterina Nesterenko (born 1976), Russian alpine skier
• Vladislav Frolov (born 1980), Russian sprint athlete

• Sergei Lebedkov (born 1981), Russian professional football player
• Anastasia Rodionova (born 1982), Russian-born Australian professional tennis player
• Aleksey Mikhalyov (born 1983), Russian professional football player
• Yuri Zhirkov (born 1983), Russian footballer
• Pavel Kushnir (1984-2024), Russian pianist, writer, and political activist
• Bella Igla (born 1985), Israeli female chess player
• Viktor Tolstykh (born 1985), Russian professional football player
• Arina Rodionova (born 1989), Russian-born Australian professional tennis player

• Nikolai Arkharov (1742–1814), Russian statesman
• Afanasy Grigoriev (1782–1868), Russian Neoclassical architect, took part in the reconstruction of Moscow after the War 1812
• Paisi Kaysarov (1783–1844), Russian general who served during the Napoleonic Wars
• Yevgeny Baratynsky (1800–1844), Russian poet

• Natalia Goncharova (1812–1863), A. S. Pushkin's wife. She was born in the village Karian-Zagryazhskoye of the Tambov province.
• Andrei Karelin (1837–1906), Russian artist, photographer of the Academy of Arts
• Alexander Lodygin (1847–1923), one of the founders of the electrothermy, author of almost 400 inventions including a tungsten filament lamp. He was born in the village of Stenshino of the Tambov province.
• Flavian Flavitsky (1848–1917), Russian chemist
• Yevgeny Lanceray (1848–1886), well-known Russian sculptor

• Maksim Dmitriyev (1858–1948), Russian photographer
• Vladimir Arnoldi (1871–1924), Russian botanist
• Konstantin Igumnov (1873–1948), Russian pianist-virtuoso, professor of Moscow Conservatory
• Anastasius (Gribanovsky) (1873–1965), hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and the second First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
• Benjamin (Fedchenkov) (1880–1961), Bishop of the Russian Church, Orthodox missionary and writer
• Lev Ilyin (1880–1942), Russian architect, in 1925–1938 the main architect of Leningrad
• Aleksandr Gerasimov (1881–1963), Soviet painter
• Nikolay Annenkov (Kokin) (1899–1999), patriarch of the Moscow Maly Theatre

• Yevgeny Krinov (1906–1984), Soviet Russian astronomer and geologist
• Igor Levkoev (1909–1978), Russian chemist-photographer
• Alexei T. Sergeev (1919–1998), bass singer; one of the Alexandrov Ensemble soloists, People's Artist of the USSR
• Nikolay Basov (1922–2001), Soviet physicist and educator
• Vsevolod Bobrov (1922–1979), Soviet Russian athlete, who excelled in football, bandy and ice hockey
• Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya (1923–1941), Soviet partisan and Hero of the Soviet Union
• Sergei Filatov (1926–1997), Olympic equestrian champion
• Ivan Kalita (1927–1996), Soviet equestrian and Olympic champion

• Igor Uporov (born 1965), Russian advocate
• Alexandr Potapov (born 1985), most popular designer and producer

• Matvei Bashkin (16th century), Russian boyar's son, the first martyr of the Russian Molokan faith
• Roman Boborykin (17th century), Russian statesman
• Feofil (Rayev) (1738–1811), Bishop of Tambov
• Gavrila Derzhavin (1743–1816), Russian poet
• Michael Lunin (1787–1845), Russian political philosopher, revolutionary, Mason, Decembrist
• Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841), well-known Russian poet
• Theophan the Recluse (Georgy Govorov; 1815–1894), Bishop of Tambov; saint in the Russian Orthodox Church
• Aleksey Zhemchuzhnikov (1821–1908), Russian poet, dramatist, essayist and literary critic
• Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin (1855–1935), plant breeder
• Maxim Gorky (Alexei Peshkov) (1868–1936), Russian and Soviet writer and public figure, a founder of socialist realism literature
• Luka (Voyno-Yasenetsky) (1877–1961), Doctor of Medicine and surgeon
• David Burliuk (1882–1967), Russian poet and painter
• Alexander Antonov (1888–1922), leader of the Tambov peasant revolt (1920–1921)
• Konstantin Fedin (1892–1977), Russian writer
• Leonid Dyomin (1897–1973), Doctor of Geographical Sciences, professor
• Alexander Levshin (1899–1982), producer
• Fiodor Dubovitsky (1907–1999), Doctor of Chemical Sciences, professor
• Lev Dyomin (1926–1998), Russian cosmonaut
• Yury Artyukhin (1930–1998), Soviet Russian cosmonaut and engineer
• Nikolay Bochkov (1931–2011), Russian scientist

• List of Russian people
• List of Russian-language poets