Born under Mercury retrograde?
Within chance
About a fifth of famous people were born under Mercury retrograde, as their birth years would give: a shade fewer, within chance. Venus and Mars come out the same.
Mercury, Venus and Mars
The share of famous people born under each planet’s retrograde, and the mark where the birth years’ own shares put it. Mercury turns back three or four times a year, Mars about every two years and Venus every year and a half, so their shares are smaller.
Field by field
Mercury retrograde births in each field of a hundred and fifty people or more. With this many fields, one lands a little high or low by chance alone; none stands out past that.
| Field | Births | Under Mercury retrograde | The sky gives |
|---|---|---|---|
| Film and TV | 2,033 | 389 · 19.1% | 389 · 19.1% |
| Music | 1,300 | 256 · 19.7% | 248 · 19.1% |
| Sport | 691 | 121 · 17.5% | 131 · 19.0% |
| Leaders and royals | 611 | 94 · 15.4% | 117 · 19.2% |
| Writers | 391 | 63 · 16.1% | 75 · 19.1% |
| Creators | 202 | 29 · 14.4% | 39 · 19.1% |
| Business | 167 | 28 · 16.8% | 32 · 19.4% |
| Comedy | 156 | 30 · 19.2% | 30 · 19.2% |
How it was counted
5,944 famous people with a page on this site. For each, whether the planet was retrograde at noon Universal Time on the day of birth, read from NASA JPL’s ephemeris; birth times are not held, so a birth on the day a planet turned may fall either side.
The baseline is each birth year’s own share: the fraction of that year’s noons the planet spent retrograde, so a year with three turns of Mercury weighs as it should. A count is more than chance when it stands 3 standard deviations from that baseline, a line that allows for the number of fields.
To cite this page: Are famous people born under Mercury retrograde?, Under Your Stars, https://underyourstars.com/numbers/mercury-retrograde-births
And your sky?
Your Sun, Moon and rising, the famous people who share them, and an analysis written from your own sky.