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.
Jean Jaurès, French politician. He 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")
Graham Steele, Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician
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 ShuttleColumbia. His 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.
Hector Hodler, Swiss journalist, translator, organizer, and philanthropist
Qian Xuantong, Chinese writer and linguist who pushed for the abolition of Classical Chinese, and supported the substitution of Spoken Chinese with Esperanto
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."
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.
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")
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.