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← Fame through time1840-1849

The 1840s

Whose names filled the books of the 1840s - anyone at all, however long dead - counted as mentions per million words printed, so a period that simply published more does not inflate anyone.

Talked about then

Whose names appeared most in French books during the 1840s, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Louis XIV of France1638-1715 · 17th century · France · Historical Figures37
  2. 2Voltaire1694-1778 · 18th century · France · Writers24
  3. 3Louis XVI of France1754-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures17
  4. 4Louis XV of France1710-1774 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures11
  5. 5Molière1622-1673 · 17th century · France · Writers9.8
  6. 6Louis XVIII of France1755-1824 · 18th century · France · Politicians7.6
  7. 7Montesquieu1689-1755 · 18th century · France · Academics7.0
  8. 8Louis XII of France1462-1515 · 15th century · France · Historical Figures6.3
  9. 9François Fénelon1651-1715 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures5.9
  10. 10Charles X of France1757-1836 · 18th century · France · Politicians5.0
  11. 11Louis Blanc1811-1882 · 19th century · Spain · Politicians3.5
  12. 12Philip V of Spain1683-1746 · 18th century · France · Politicians2.5
  13. 13Francis de Sales1567-1622 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures2.3
  14. 14Marie Antoinette1755-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures2.3
  15. 15Francis II of France1544-1560 · 16th century · France · Politicians2.1
  16. 16Joan of Arc1412-1431 · 15th century · France2.0
  17. 17Marie de' Medici1575-1642 · 17th century · France · Politicians1.8
  18. 18Victor Hugo1802-1885 · 19th century · France · Writers1.8
  19. 19Pope Julius II1443-1513 · 15th century · Italy · Religious Figures1.7
  20. 20Odilon Barrot1791-1873 · 19th century · France · Politicians1.7
  21. 21Vincent de Paul1581-1660 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures1.6
  22. 22Louis Bonaparte1778-1846 · 19th century · France · Politicians1.6
  23. 23Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme1540-1614 · 16th century · France · Writers1.6
  24. 24Benjamin Constant1767-1830 · 19th century · Switzerland · Politicians1.5
  25. 25Camille Desmoulins1760-1794 · 18th century · France · Journalists1.4
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 1840s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Abraham Lincoln1809-1865 · United States · Politicians22 decades
  2. 2Edgar Allan Poe1809-1849 · United States · Writers17 decades
  3. 3Charles Dickens1812-1870 · United Kingdom · Writers20 decades
  4. 4Charles Darwin1809-1882 · United Kingdom · Scientists21 decades
  5. 5Frédéric Chopin1810-1849 · France · Musicians16 decades
  6. 6Richard Wagner1813-1883 · Germany · Musicians19 decades
  7. 7Hans Christian Andersen1805-1875 · Denmark · Writers18 decades
  8. 8Andrew Johnson1808-1875 · United States · Politicians22 decades
  9. 9Nikolai Gogol1809-1852 · Russia · Writers19 decades
  10. 10Napoleon III1808-1873 · France · Politicians21 decades
  11. 11Pope Leo XIII1810-1903 · Italy · Religious Figures15 decades
  12. 12Søren Kierkegaard1813-1855 · Denmark · Academics3 decades
  13. 13Emily Brontë1818-1848 · United Kingdom · Writers14 decades
  14. 14Giuseppe Garibaldi1807-1882 · France11 decades
  15. 15Joseph Smith1805-1844 · United States · Politicians22 decades
  16. 16Mikhail Lermontov1814-1841 · Russia · Writers15 decades
  17. 17Robert E. Lee1807-1870 · United States16 decades
  18. 18Giuseppe Verdi1813-1901 · Italy · Musicians18 decades
  19. 19Franz Liszt1811-1886 · Austria · Musicians19 decades
  20. 20John Stuart Mill1806-1873 · United Kingdom · Academics18 decades
  21. 21Felix Mendelssohn1809-1847 · Musicians18 decades
  22. 22P. T. Barnum1810-1891 · United States · Politicians17 decades
  23. 23Robert Schumann1810-1856 · Germany · Musicians19 decades
  24. 24Jefferson Davis1808-1889 · United States · Politicians20 decades
  25. 25Taras Shevchenko1814-1861 · Russia · Writers13 decades
Show 75 more

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.