The University of Franeker was made famous for its students and alumni, among which we should mention:
Lieuwe van Aitzema
Lieuwe (Leo) van Aitzema (19 November 1600 – 23 February 1669) was a Dutch historian, diplomat, bon viveur, libertine and spy.
William Ames
William Ames (/eɪmz/; Latin: Guilielmus Amesius; 1576 – 14 November 1633) was an English Protestant divine, philosopher, and controversialist.
- Willem Baudartius, theologian
- Balthasar Bekker, theologian
- Court Lambertus van Beyma, delegate of the Frisian States
- Govert Bidloo, anatomist and personal physician of William III of Orange-Nassau, Dutch stadholder and king of England
- Cornelius van Bynkershoek, jurist and legal theorist, president of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands
- Steven Blankaart Dutch physician and entomologist
- René Descartes (1596-1650), student (1629-1630)[1] at Oxford in 1575 and in Franeker in 1585
- Sicco van Goslinga, Dutch statesman and diplomat
- Willem van Haren, poet and politician
- Onno Zwier van Haren, writer and politician
- Daniel Heinsius, student and later professor in Leiden
- Joannes Antonides van der Linden, physician and medical bibliographer, 1639-1651
- Johannes Mulder, (1769–1810) student and later professor in Groningen
- Mattheus Brouërius van Nidek poet
- Murk van Phelsum, physician
- Herman Alexander Röell, professor of theology
- Petrus Stuyvesant (1612-1672), governor of New Amsterdam
- Johan Valckenaer, lawyer, patriot and diplomat
- William IV, Prince of Orange (1711-1781), stadtholder of the Netherlands
