← Fame through time1720-1729
The 1720s
Whose working lives fell in the 1720s. Books are measured from 1800 and readers from 2015, so for this period we can say who lived then, not who was talked about then.
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 1720s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Johann Sebastian Bach22 decades - 2
Voltaire22 decades - 3
George Frideric Handel21 decades - 4
Montesquieu22 decades - 5
Anna of Russia21 decades - 6
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor22 decades - 7
Nader Shah4 decades - 8
Alexander Pope22 decades - 9
Emanuel Swedenborg0 decades
- 10
Louis I of Spain4 decades - 11
George Berkeley8 decades - 12
Frederick William I of Prussianot measured- - 13
Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit1 decades - 14
James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Walesnot measured- - 15
Pierre de Marivaux22 decades - 16
Domenico Scarlatti17 decades - 17
Pope Clement XIII21 decades - 18
Elisabeth Farnese22 decades - 19
John Harrison22 decades - 20
Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russianot measured- - 21
Mary Wortley Montagu22 decades - 22
John V of Portugal0 decades - 23
Sophia Dorothea of Hanover0 decades - 24
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tynenot measured- - 25
Samuel Richardson22 decades - 26
Henry Pelham22 decades - 27
Yeongjo of Joseonnot measured- - 28
Giuseppe Tartini22 decades - 29
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttelnot measured- - 30
Vasily Tatishchev16 decades - 31
Hans Egede17 decades - 32
Brook Taylor9 decades - 33
François Quesnay14 decades - 34
Johann Balthasar Neumann13 decades - 35Gyeongjong of Joseonnot measured-
- 36
Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfieldnot measured- - 37
John Gay22 decades - 38
Christian Goldbach0 decades - 39
Giovanni Paolo Panini7 decades - 40
Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden0 decades - 41
Edward Low1 decades - 42
Mir Jafar14 decades - 43
Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbonnot measured- - 44
Francis Hutcheson17 decades - 45
Mahmud Hotaki0 decades - 46
Giuseppe Castiglione17 decades - 47
Augustine Washington21 decades - 48
Ernst Johann von Biron1 decades - 49
Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuvenot measured- - 50
Nicola Porpora12 decades - 51
Hakuin Ekakunot measured- - 52
Edward England0 decades - 53
Jean-Marc Nattier2 decades - 54
Benedetto Marcello22 decades - 55
James Bradley22 decades - 56
Paul of the Cross20 decades - 57
Leonardo Vinci21 decades - 58
Jai Singh II0 decades - 59
Blas de Lezo22 decades - 60
Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt22 decades - 61
Jacques I, Prince of Monaco0 decades - 62
Francesco Geminiani0 decades - 63
Louise Élisabeth de Bourbonnot measured- - 64
Dolly Pentreath4 decades - 65
William Stukeley9 decades - 66
Joseph Butler22 decades - 67
Senesino21 decades - 68
Jean-Baptiste Oudry6 decades - 69
Peter Tordenskjold0 decades - 70
Adrienne Lecouvreur21 decades - 71
Jack Sheppard20 decades - 72Philip Miller22 decades
- 73
Hermann Samuel Reimarus20 decades - 74
Marie Louise of Hesse-Kasselnot measured- - 75
Theodore of Corsica2 decades - 76
Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerinnot measured- - 77
Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai0 decades - 78
Bartolomeu de Gusmão0 decades - 79
Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbstnot measured- - 80
Johann Friedrich Fasch4 decades - 81
Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlingtonnot measured- - 82
Johann Maria Farina0 decades - 83
Pieter van Musschenbroek0 decades
- 84
Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeyevna of Russianot measured- - 85
John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granvillenot measured- - 86
Sylvius Leopold Weiss0 decades - 87
Johann Heinrich Schulze7 decades - 88
Louis-Claude Daquin0 decades - 89
Nanny of the Maroons0 decades - 90
Leonardo Leo21 decades - 91
Daher el-Omar0 decades - 92
Louis Armand II, Prince of Continot measured- - 93
Francesco Maria Veracini6 decades - 94
Zheng Xienot measured- - 95
Ernest Augustus I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach6 decades - 96
Abdallah of Morocco0 decades - 97
Eliza Haywood6 decades - 98Dominikus Zimmermann9 decades
- 99
François Lemoyne3 decades - 100
Nicolaus I Bernoulli0 decades
How to read these rankings
- Attention, not reputation. A place on these lists reflects the attention a person still draws in the public record. It is not a judgement on the life.
- Fame in print. The curves show how often a name appeared in the books of each decade from 1800 to 2019, drawn from the Google Books Ngram corpus.
- Gaps are left as gaps. Where the record is too thin to be fair, we would rather show nothing than guess.