Notables are important or famous people, usually talked about as a group. News and history writing like this word: “local notables” are the well-known people in a town; “literary notables” are famous writers. It is almost always plural. You can say “a notable” for one person, but that sounds stiff; “the notables” is the natural shape. It is more formal than “famous people” or “celebrities”. Celebrities are famous because the public watches them. Notables are important or well-known in a place or a field, and they may never appear on television. Though actually, writers sometimes stretch it to mean anyone they want to sound important.