John Nelson may refer to:
- John Nelson (baseball) (born 1979), US baseball player
- John Nelson (British Army officer) (1912–1993), Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin
- John Nelson (conductor) (born 1941), US orchestra leader
- John Nelson (convert), 16th century English convert to Islam
- John Nelson (lawyer) (1791–1860), Attorney General of the United States in the 19th century
- John Nelson (martyr) (1534–1578), Catholic priest, killed for refusal to acknowledge Queen's supremacy over Church in England
- John Nelson (merchant) (1654–1734), US colonial figure in Boston
- John Nelson (physician), physician, president of the American Medical Association
- John Nelson (police officer), US policeman, regarded as founder of police special forces units
- John Nelson (soccer) (1905–1984), Scottish-born US soccer player
- John Nelson (swimmer) (born 1948), US swimmer
- John Nelson (visual effects artist) (born 1953), US visual effects supervisor
- John Allen Nelson (born 1959), US actor in film and television
- John B. Nelson, US political figure in Arizona
- John E. Nelson (born 1935), US political figure in Nebraska
- John E. Nelson (Maine) (1874–1955), US political figure from Maine
- John Frederick Nelson (born 1947), chairman of Lloyd's of London
- John L. Nelson (1916–2001), US musician
- John M. Nelson (1870–1955), US political figure from Wisconsin
- Byron Nelson (John Byron Nelson, Jr., 1912–2006), US golfer
- Candy Nelson (John W. Nelson, 1849–1910), US baseball player
- Jock Nelson (John Norman Nelson, 1908–1991), Australian politician
- Johnny Nelson (born 1967), British boxer
Famous quotes containing the word nelson:
“The victors and the vanquished then the storm it tossed and tore,
As hard they strove, those worn-out men, upon that surly shore;
Dead Nelson and his half-dead crew, his foes from near and far,
Were rolled together on the deep that night at Trafalgar!”
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)