The Putnam family of prominent old colonial Americans was founded by Puritans John and Priscilla (Gould) Putnam in the 17th century, in Salem, Massachusetts. Many notable individuals are descendants of this family, including those listed below.

John Putnam was born about 1580 and came from Aston Abbotts, Buckinghamshire, England. He was married to Priscilla Gould and they settled in Salem. They were the parents of seven children: Elizabeth, Thomas, John, Nathaniel, Sara, Phoebe, and John. Their eldest son, Thomas, was the father of Thomas Putnam and Deacon Edward Putnam, who were involved in the Salem witch trials and were partially responsible for the executions of those convicted of witchcraft.^[1]

• Albigence Waldo Putnam (1799–1869), historian
• Ann Putnam, Jr. (1679–1716), accuser at Salem Witchcraft trials
• Ann Putnam Senior (1661–1699), witness in the Salem Witch Trials
• Brenda Putnam (1890–1975), sculptor
• Carleton Putnam (1901–1998), aviator, activist & author
• David Putnam (1898–1918), World War I air ace
• Frederic Ward Putnam (1839–1915), American anthropologist, Harvard University
• George Putnam (1807–1878), Unitarian minister
• George Putnam (1889–1960), great-great-grandson of Judge Samuel Putnam, founder of Putnam Investments; his son George Putnam, retired chairman Putnam Investments; and grandson George Putnam III, Chairman, Putnam Investments
• George D. Putnam (born 1948), screenwriter
• George Haven Putnam (1844–1930), book entrepreneur & publishing-family member
• George Palmer Putnam (1814–1872), book entrepreneur
• George P. Putnam (1887–1950), publisher, author, explorer, & publishing-family member; husband of aviator Amelia Earhart
• Gideon Putnam (1763–1812), entrepreneur
• Harriet Putnam Fowler (1842–1901), author & poet
• Herbert Putnam (1861–1955), American library administrator & publishing-family member
• Israel Putnam (1718–1790), American Revolution General
• Jake Putnam (born 1956), Emmy award winning journalist, author, US Osuna Cup Team, Senior Olympic tennis player
• James Jackson Putnam (1846–1918), neurologist
• Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi (1842–1906), American physician
• Palmer Cosslett Putnam (1900–1984), Wind power pioneer and author, builder of the Smith–Putnam wind turbine
• Paul A. Putnam (1903–1982), American Brigadier General United States Marine Corps, Commander during the defense of wake Island during World War II
• Samuel Putnam (1768–1853), Massachusetts Supreme Court justice, who wrote the opinion in Harvard College v. Amory, which established the Prudent man rule in US Law
• Robert Putnam (born 1941), American political scientist, Harvard University
• Rufus Putnam (1738–1824), American Revolution officer, later brigadier general
• Seth Putnam (1968–2011), American musician, from Newton, Massachusetts
• Thomas Putnam (1651–1699), landowner in Salem during the Salem witch trials
• William Lowell Putnam (1861–1923), American jurist & banker
• George Putnam (newsman) (1914–2008), Emmy award winning investigative journalist & news broadcaster

• Eben Putnam, A history of the Putnam family in England and America, 1908
• G. Andrews Moriarty Jr., A.M., LL.B., F.S.A., The English Ancestry of John Putnam Of Salem, Massachusetts