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← Fame through time1880-1889

The 1880s

Whose names filled the books of the 1880s - 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 Spanish books during the 1880s, whenever they lived.

  1. 1John of God1495-1550 · 16th century · Portugal8.1
  2. 2Francis Xavier1506-1552 · 16th century · Spain · Religious Figures5.9
  3. 3Lope de Vega1562-1635 · 16th century · Spain · Writers5.5
  4. 4Diego de Almagro1475-1538 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures4.4
  5. 5John of Austria1547-1578 · 16th century · Spain · Politicians3.5
  6. 6Francisco Pizarro1478-1541 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures3.4
  7. 7Gonzalo Pizarro1502-1548 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.9
  8. 8Hernando Pizarro1502-1578 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.4
  9. 9Vincent Ferrer1350-1419 · 14th century · Spain · Religious Figures2.4
  10. 10Nicolás Antonio1617-1684 · 17th century · Spain · Politicians2.3
  11. 11Pedro de Alvarado1486-1541 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.2
  12. 12John I of France1316-1316 · 14th century · France · Historical Figures2.1
  13. 13Christopher Columbus1451-1506 · 15th century · Italy · Historical Figures2.0
  14. 14Juan Fernández1529-1602 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.0
  15. 15Antonio Cánovas del Castillo1828-1897 · 19th century · Spain · Politicians2.0
  16. 16Andrés Bello1781-1865 · 19th century · Chile · Politicians1.7
  17. 17Teresa of Ávila1515-1582 · 16th century · Spain · Writers1.7
  18. 18Práxedes Mateo Sagasta1825-1903 · 19th century · Spain · Politicians1.6
  19. 19Pope Alexander VI1431-1503 · 15th century · Spain · Religious Figures1.6
  20. 20Jose Miguel Carrera1785-1821 · 19th century · Chile · Politicians1.4
  21. 21Hernán Cortés1485-1547 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures1.4
  22. 22Ignatius of Loyola1491-1556 · 16th century · Spain · Religious Figures1.3
  23. 23Diego Velázquez1599-1660 · 17th century · Spain · Artists1.2
  24. 24Francisco Verdugo1537-1595 · 16th century · Spain · Politicians1.2
  25. 25Tirso de Molina1583-1648 · 17th century · Spain · Writers1.1
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 1880s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Vincent van Gogh1853-1890 · Netherlands · Artists12 decades
  2. 2Oscar Wilde1854-1900 · Ireland · Writers14 decades
  3. 3Thomas Edison1847-1931 · United States · Scientists13 decades
  4. 4Alexander Graham Bell1847-1922 · United States · Scientists15 decades
  5. 5Arthur Rimbaud1854-1891 · France · Writers14 decades
  6. 6Antoni Gaudí1852-1926 · Spain · Architects5 decades
  7. 7Robert Louis Stevenson1850-1894 · United Kingdom · Writers15 decades
  8. 8Guy de Maupassant1850-1893 · France · Writers14 decades
  9. 9Paul von Hindenburg1847-1934 · Germany · Politicians10 decades
  10. 10Alexander III of Russia1845-1894 · Russia · Historical Figures16 decades
  11. 11Paul Gauguin1848-1903 · France · Artists13 decades
  12. 12Bram Stoker1847-1912 · Ireland · Writers12 decades
  13. 13Emperor Meiji1852-1912 · Japan · Historical Figures11 decades
  14. 14Ivan Pavlov1849-1936 · Russia · Scientists16 decades
  15. 15Cecil Rhodes1853-1902 · United Kingdom · Politicians12 decades
  16. 16Wilhelm Röntgen1845-1923 · Germany · Scientists11 decades
  17. 17Pope Benedict XV1854-1922 · Italy · Religious Figures11 decades
  18. 18José Martí1853-1895 · Spain · Writers16 decades
  19. 19Ludwig II of Bavaria1845-1886 · Germany · Historical Figuresnot measured-
  20. 20Billy the Kid1859-1881 · United States12 decades
  21. 21Henri Poincaré1854-1912 · France · Academics13 decades
  22. 22H. H. Asquith1852-1928 · United Kingdom · Politicians11 decades
  23. 23Ferdinand Foch1851-1929 · France · Historical Figures7 decades
  24. 24Annie Besant1847-1933 · United Kingdom · Activists15 decades
  25. 25George I of Greece1845-1913 · Denmark · Historical Figures0 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.