List of Mennonites

This page includes a list of notable Mennonites.

General list

 * Harold S. Bender, professor of theology at Goshen College
 * David Bergen, Giller Prize winning author
 * Travis Bergen, baseball player
 * JC Chasez, solo artist and singer for NSYNC
 * Christopher Dock, educator
 * Abraham Esau, German physicist
 * Howard Dyck, Canadian conductor and broadcaster
 * Dietrich Enns, baseball player
 * Brendan Fehr, actor linked to TV show Roswell
 * Eric Fehr, hockey player
 * Henry Friesen, endocrinologist who discovered Prolactin
 * Jeff Friesen, former hockey player
 * Byron Froese, hockey player
 * Johann Funk, early Canadian Mennonite bishop
 * Joseph Funk, U.S. music teacher and publisher
 * Michael Funk, former hockey player
 * Owen Gingerich, Smithsonian astronomer
 * Girl Named Tom, winners of season 21 of The Voice
 * Steven Goertzen, former hockey player
 * Herman op den Graeff, Mennonite community leader of Krefeld, delegate and signer of the Dordrecht Confession of Faith in 1632
 * Joseph B. Hagey, bishop
 * Vincent Harding, African-American historian, theologian and civil-rights activist
 * Hans Herr, bishop
 * Jeff Hostetler, NFL quarterback
 * Julia Kasdorf, poet
 * Graham Kerr, "The Galloping Gourmet"
 * Cindy Klassen, five time Olympic medalist
 * Eduard Klassen, harpist
 * Clayton Kratz, relief worker
 * Erik Kratz, American professional baseball catcher currently in the Milwaukee Brewers organization.
 * Alan Kreider, author and employee of the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
 * Floyd Landis, professional road bicycle racer
 * John Paul Lederach, professor of International Peacebuilding
 * Lê Thị Hồng Liên, teacher and former political prisoner
 * María Gloria Penayo De Duarte, Paraguayan first lady, her husband Nicanor Duarte, is a nominal Catholic who attends her church
 * Dustin Penner, former hockey player
 * Casey Plett, writer
 * Nguyen Hong Quang, Vice President of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam
 * Richie Regehr, former hockey player
 * Robyn Regehr, former hockey player
 * A. James Reimer, Canadian Mennonite theologian
 * James Reimer, hockey player
 * John D. Roth, Mennonite scholar
 * Menno Simons, theologian; Mennonitism named for him
 * Jerome Monroe Smucker, founder of The J.M. Smucker Company
 * Dan Snyder, hockey player
 * Gene Stoltzfus, American peace activist, founding director of Christian Peacemaker Teams
 * Brad Thiessen, hockey player
 * David Toews, hockey player
 * Jonathan Toews, hockey player
 * Miriam Toews, best-selling author, winner of the 2004 Governor General's Literary Award
 * Andrew Unger, novelist and author of The Daily Bonnet
 * Garry Unger, former hockey player
 * Pierre Widmer, French Mennonite pastor and editor
 * Armin Wiebe, author
 * Rudy Wiebe, Canadian author and professor who was raised Mennonite so knew no English until age 6
 * Harvey L. Wollman, former Governor of South Dakota
 * John Howard Yoder, theologian and pacifist

Canadian politicians connected to the Mennonites

 * Albert Driedger, cabinet minister under Gary Filmon and also a director of the Elim Mennonite Church.
 * Jacob Froese, only Manitoba Social Credit Party MLA between 1959 and 1973, and was the party's leader for most if not all of the period from 1959 to 1977
 * Kelvin Goertzen, 23rd Premier of Manitoba
 * Harold Neufeld, cabinet minister under Gary Filmon and currently Chair of the Menno Simons College Foundation
 * Vic Toews, Conservative Party of Canada member and a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba
 * Brad Wall, former Premier of Saskatchewan
 * Cornelius Wiebe, first Mennonite to serve in the Manitoba legislature

Note: Several Canadian political figures have a Mennonite background. This might be more common in Canada than in most nations. This is perhaps most true in the case of Manitoba, though Saskatchewan and British Columbia also have significant Mennonites in politics. As this more concerns "connected to" this may include people who are ethnic Mennonites and not necessarily members of Mennonite churches.

People of Mennonite ancestry or background
This is mostly people whose Mennonite ancestry or upbringing is important to them, but who are not currently Mennonite. In some cases names listed here include people whose current status as Mennonites is undetermined.


 * Sandra Birdsell, Canadian poet
 * Di Brandt, Canadian poet
 * Greg Brenneman, former CEO of Burger King
 * John Denver, folk singer-songwriter
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower, thirty-fourth President of the United States (1953–1961). Eisenhower's direct ancestor, Hans Nicol Eisenhauer, was a Mennonite who settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1741.
 * Ashley Graham, plus-size American supermodel.
 * Jonathan Groff, American actor and singer who originated the role of King George in the Broadway musical Hamilton.
 * Katherine Esau, American botanist
 * Patrick Friesen, Canadian poet
 * Anna German, Polish singer
 * Philip D. Gingerich, paleontologist
 * Malcolm Gladwell, English-Canadian journalist, bestselling author, and speaker who has made a return to religion though not of a specific church at the moment.
 * Jon Gnagy, American art instructor on television
 * Matt Groening, American cartoonist, creator of The Simpsons. His father, Homer Groening, was born and raised in a Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonite family from Saskatchewan.
 * Joey Kelly, former member of The Kelly Family
 * James L. Kraft, founder of Kraft Foods
 * Milton Hershey, founder of The Hershey Company
 * Robyn Regehr, hockey player
 * Adolph Rupp, college basketball coach
 * Marlin Stutzman, politician who was raised Mennonitem but is now Baptist.
 * Hermann Sudermann, German dramatist and novelist
 * Dick Winters, U.S. Army Major and World War II commander of Band of Brothers' Easy Company

People incorrectly identified as Mennonite

 * George Armstrong Custer, erroneously identified as coming from Mennonite background by biographer Milo Milton Quaife.