Biographical dictionaries — a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information — have been written in many languages. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in Who's Who, or deceased people only, in the Dictionary of National Biography). Others are specialized, in that they cover important names in a subject field, such as architecture or engineering.

List of biographical dictionaries

International

• A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers
• Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890
• Dictionary of International Biography
• Who's Who in the World

Australia

• Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Dictionary of Australian Biography
• Dictionary of Western Australians
• Dictionary of Australian Artists Online

Canada

• Dictionary of Canadian Biography
• The Canadian Who's Who, published by University of Toronto Press

France

• Dictionnaire de biographie des hommes célèbres de l'Alsace (1909-1910)
• Dictionnaire de biographie française (1932)
• Nouveau dictionnaire de biographie alsacienne (1982)

German-speaking Europe

• Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1875)
• Neue Deutsche Biographie (1953)
• Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (1990)
• Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie (1995)

Great Britain

• A Biographical Dictionary of British coleopterists - online at ''The Coleopterist''
• A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers
• British Biographical Index
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Who's Who, published by A & C Black

Poland

• Polski s?ownik biograficzny

United States

• African American National Biography Project
• American National Biography
• Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography
• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Encyclopedia of American Biography
• Who's Who in America, published by Marquis Who's Who

de:Liste der biografischen Lexika