A Fiery History

While red hair is statistically rare, it might surprise you how many historical figures had red hair, even some you wouldn't suspect, like Cleopatra herself. From the ruling dynasties of Europe to the foundational leaders of the United States, this fiery hue has been a recurring theme among the bold and the brave. With that in mind, here are 20 ginger-haired individuals you ought to know.

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1. Queen Elizabeth I

Arguably the most famous redhead in British history, she used her natural fiery hair color to help establish her brand as queen. Legend has it that women in her court would dye their hair to emulate their queen's glamorous "ginger waves". Elizabeth's royal locks became so closely associated with her that she single-handedly made red hair trendsetting during England's Golden Age.

Unidentified painter on Wikimedia

2. King Henry VIII

Before he became the stout, disgruntled monarch many of us recognize from later portraits, Henry was a tall, athletic, and strikingly redheaded young king. He also fathered three children who inherited his temper and his red hair. Henry VIII helped establish the redhead gene pool for future British royals, giving both his son Edward and daughters Mary and Elizabeth auburn locks.

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3. George Washington

Most schoolchildren learn about George Washington with the accompanying image of a white powdered wig.

Few know that underneath those powdered wig-style hairpieces, Washington was actually a natural redhead. He is known to have preferred the ease of simply powdering his own hair as opposed to wearing a full wig.

John Trumbull on Wikimedia

4. Thomas Jefferson

Joining his fellow Founding Father, George Washington, in the Redhead Hall of Fame is Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson's hair color was noted to be sandy red, and he too often powdered his hair to maintain his professional image. You can almost imagine the sparks flying between his intellect and his famously bright hair.

Rembrandt Peale on Wikimedia

5. Boudicca

The Celtic warrior queen is described by some historians as having hair "that reached down to her knees". Boudicca terrorized the Romans during her uprising and nearly drove them out of Britain. When you picture her charging into battle in her chariot, that flame-colored hair must have looked like a literal war banner.

John Opie / William Sharp on Wikimedia

6. Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill was a redhead before he ever became the famous white-haired British prime minister. Young Winston earned the nickname "Copper" for his red hair during his early years as a soldier and journalist. Churchill would go on to lead the free world through World War II as one of history's greatest orators.

Yousuf Karsh on Wikimedia

7. Alexander the Great

Historical records differ when describing the hair color of Alexander the Great, but many ancient sources mention that his hair was strawberry blonde or had reddish tones.

Considering he ruled over one of the largest empires in ancient history, it's safe to say he knew how to own it.

Yair Haklai on Wikimedia

8. Frederick Barbarossa

The great Holy Roman Emperor was named "Barbarossa," which means "red beard" in Italian". Frederick Barbarossa ruled with an iron fist in the 12th century and worked to consolidate power throughout Germany and Italy. Stories of his red beard were passed down for generations after he disappeared.

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9. Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh's self-portraits paint a clear picture that this artistic genius was rocking the red hair look. Paired with his eerily colored skin tones, his beard and hair helped define some of his most famous paintings. It's hard to imagine his brilliant face without that signature shock of orange-red hair.

Vincent van Gogh on Wikimedia

10. Erik the Red

If the nickname "Red" doesn't give it away, this Norse explorer was named after his glorious red beard and hair. The Viking leader was exiled from Iceland for his aggressive tendencies and went on to settle the first Greenland colony. You've got to be pretty tough to survive the North Atlantic, and his name suggests he had the fiery spirit to match the challenge.

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11. Galileo Galilei

The famed "father of modern science" was actually said to have had red hair. He spent his life looking at the stars through his telescope, proving that the Earth revolves around the sun.

You can almost see the irony in a man with sun-colored hair being the one to put the sun at the center of everything.

Justus Sustermans on Wikimedia

12. Mary Magdalene

Although never explicitly stated in the Bible, Mary Magdalene has been portrayed as a fiery redhead in Western art for centuries. Artists found it fashionable to paint her that way as a symbol of her fierce personality. Even if it's more of a cultural legend than a proven fact, she remains one of the most famous "redheads" in human history.

Frederick Sandys on Wikimedia

13. Christopher Columbus

Many of Columbus's earliest biographies and paintings described him as having blue eyes and red hair when he was younger. While most of his hair turned white as he aged, most sources agree that he had distinctly lighter hair and eyes than most of his Mediterranean countrymen.

Sebastiano del Piombo on Wikimedia

14. Malcolm X

Malcolm X was given the nickname "Red" when he was younger due to the reddish tone his hair would sometimes take on. His family background was quite diverse, and his hair was evidence of that. It's a fascinating bit of personal history for a man who would go on to change the course of American social justice.

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15. Antonio Vivaldi

The legendary composer was nicknamed "The Red Priest" due to his fiery hair color and his job as a tonsured Catholic priest. He composed The Four Seasons, and you definitely wouldn't forget him after seeing him stroll into the room.

Take a look at some of his portraits, and you can easily see where he got that nickname.

Unidentified painter on Wikimedia

16. Empress Roxelana

As the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, Roxelana rose from being a captured nobody to one of the most powerful women in the history of the Ottoman Empire. She was known for having bright red hair, which stood out among the darker-haired women in the sultan's court and helped her catch his eye. History would remember her as the woman who basically rewrote the empire's laws.

anonymous / Unidentified painter on Wikimedia

17. Nero

Few rulers of the Roman Empire are as infamous as Nero. His own family name, Ahenobarbus, literally translates to "bronze-bearded" or "red-bearded". While his reputation as a ruler is definitely complicated, his physical appearance was well documented by Roman historians.

cjh1452000 on Wikimedia

18. Mark Twain

Everyone knows Samuel Clemens as an old man with a gigantic white bushy mustache and a fro of hair to match. However, Twain was actually a redhead when he was younger, much to his own comedic annoyance. He loved incorporating this fact into his speeches and writings.

A.F. Bradley, New York on Wikimedia

19. Cleopatra

While modern movies often show her with jet-black hair, historical evidence and Roman-era portraits suggest the Egyptian queen may have actually had reddish-brown hair. As a member of the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty, her ancestry was Macedonian, making a copper or auburn shade much more likely than most people think.

Fox Film Corporation on Wikimedia

20. Andrew Jackson

The seventh U.S. president was surprisingly a redhead. His signature temper and sword-handling ability were only matched by the bright shock of red hair sitting atop his head. It eventually turned white and stuck straight up for reasons unbeknownst to modern science, but we can still imagine him yelling at carriages with his intense red hair.

Jengod on Wikimedia