← Fame through time1600-1699
The 17th century
Whose working lives fell in the 17th century. 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 17th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Charles I of England12 decades - 2
James VI and I5 decades - 3
Charles II of England12 decades - 4
James II of England3 decades - 5
Mary II of England0 decades - 6
John Smith22 decades - 7
Anne of Denmark6 decades - 8
Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemianot measured- - 9
William Dampier20 decades - 10
Anne, Duchess of York0 decades - 11
Mary Henrietta, Princess Royalnot measured- - 12
John Rolfe20 decades - 13
Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucesternot measured- - 14
Thomas Button11 decades - 15
Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Derbynot measured- - 16Jonas Poole1 decades
- 17
Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussexnot measured- - 18Lionel Wafernot measured-
- 19Andrew Battelnot measured-
- 20William Saylenot measured-
- 21
Walter Scott, 1st Earl of Buccleuchnot measured- - 22
Richard Jobsonnot measured- - 23Darby Fieldnot measured-
- 24Sir Walter Wrottesley, 3rd Baronetnot measured-
- 25Anne Stanley, Countess of Ancramnot measured-
- 26Thomas Edgenot measured-
- 27Thomas Marmadukenot measured-
- 28Anne Vaughan, Countess of Carberynot measured-
- 29Robert Fotherbynot measured-
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.