Addu Atoll had been the centre of learning in the Maldives- a sort of university town. As a result, the Atoll had always been rather enlightened and culturally more advanced than the rest of the Maldives. A large section of Addu society always viewed itself as peers of the Malé nobility. This sentiment was reciprocated (not always sincerely) by the nobility in Malé.

The following is a list of notable people of Addu Atoll over the centuries up to the early part of the 20th Century. They are in alphabetical order- that way, family connections are easily seen in some cases