Year (''' MDCLXXVIII ''') was a Common Year Starting On Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Year Starting On Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian Calendar ).
- March 4 - Antonio Vivaldi , Italian composer (died 1741 )
- March 7 - Filippo Juvara , Italian architect (died 1736 )
- May 16 - Andreas Silbermann , organ builder (died 1734 )
- July 26 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1711 )
- September 16 - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke , English statesman and philosopher (died 1751 )
- September 29 - Adrien-Maurice, 3rd Duc De Noailles , French soldier (died 1766 )
- October 10 - John Campbell, 2nd Duke Of Argyll , Scottish soldier (died 1743 )
- November 26 - Jean Jacques D'Ortous De Mairan , French geophysicist (died 1771 )
- December 8 - Horatio Walpole, 1st Baron Walpole Of Wolterton , English diplomat (died 1757 )
- December 13 - Yongzheng Emperor of China (died 1735 )
- December 14 - Daniel Neal , English historian (died 1743 )
- December 30 - William Croft , English composer (died 1727 )
- ''date unknown'' - George Farquhar , Irish dramatist (died 1707 )
: ''See also .''
- January 29 - Jeronimo Lobo , Portuguese Jesuit missionary (born 1593 )
- May 4 or May 14 - Anna Maria Van Schurman , Dutch poet and scholar (born 1607 )
- August 5 - Juan García De Zéspedes , Mexican musician and composer (born 1619 )
- August 16 - Andrew Marvell , English writer (born 1621 )
- August 28 - John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley Of Stratton , English soldier (born 1602 )
- October 12 - Edmund Berry Godfrey , English magistrate (born 1621 )
- October 18 - Jacob Jordaens , Flemish painter (born 1593 )
- October 19 - Samuel Dirksz Van Hoogstraten , Dutch painter (born c. 1627 )
- November 1 - William Coddington , first Governor of Rhode Island (born 1601 )
: ''See also .''
|