John Waddell may refer to:

• John Waddell (engineer) (1828–1888), Scottish railway contractor
• John Alexander Low Waddell (1854–1938), American civil engineer and bridge designer
• John Waddell (politician) (1891–1939), Australian politician
• John Henry Waddell (1921–2019), American sculpture artist
• John Kenneth Waddell, former president of Allen University, Columbia, South Carolina
• John Newton Waddel (1812–1895), American clergyman, educator
• Rankin (photographer) (John Rankin Waddell, born 1966), British portrait and fashion photographer