Thiele is a surname that has been held by several prominent current and historical figures.
- Alfonso Thiele (1922 - c. 1986), American Italian racing driver
- Annekatrin Thiele (born 1984), German rower
- August Thiele (1894 – 1967), Vizeadmiral with the Kriegsmarine
- Bob Thiele (1922–1996), producer and record executive, who co-composed "What a Wonderful World", and discovered Buddy Holly and the Crickets.
- Colin Thiele (1920–2006), writer of popular children's stories, including Storm Boy
- Dave Thiele (born circa 1952), Canadian politician
- Edwin R. Thiele (1895–1986), missionary and archaeologist, best known for his Old Testament chronology
- Fred Thiele (born 1953), American politician
- Fritz Thiele (1894–1944), a member of the 20 July conspiracy to kill Hitler
- Gerhard Thiele (1953– ), ESA astronaut and geophysicist, who was on the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission in February 2000
- Georg Thiele (1881 - 1914), Imperial German Navy officer
- Hans Thiele, Filipino professional basketball player
- Hertha Thiele, German actress
- Holger Thiele (1878–1946), Danish-American astronomer
- Jacob Thiele, musician for the rock group, The Faint
- Johannes Thiele (1860–1935), German zoologist, and curator of the Museum of Natural History in Berlin
- Johannes Thiele (chemist) (1865–1918), chemist at the university of Munich
- Jürgen Thiele (born 1959), German rower
- Just Mathias Thiele (1795 – 1874), Danish writer and art historian
- Keith Thiele (born 1921), New Zealand World War II Pilot
- Klaus Thiele (born 1958), German athlete
- Neville Thiele Australian Engineer, known for having simplified and made into practical approach the algorithms for calculating loudspeaker cabinets similarly as Richard H. Small (thus Thiele/Small loudspeaker parameters).
- Peter Thiele (1968), program director, TV Producer, Publisher, Writer and Talk Show Host.
- Rolf Thiele (1918 – 1994), German film director.
- Thorvald N. Thiele (1838–1910), Danish astronomer, mathematician, and statistician, who was one of the founders of the insurance company Hafnia
- Wilhelm Thiele (1890-1975), Austrian screenwriter and film director