← Fame through time1700-1799
The 18th century
Whose working lives fell in the 18th 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 18th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Charles X of France22 decades - 2
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgordnot measured- - 3
Philip V of Spain22 decades - 4
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayettenot measured- - 5
Jean-Paul Marat19 decades - 6
Louis XVIII of France22 decades - 7
Toussaint Louverture22 decades - 8
Madame de Pompadour22 decades - 9
Louis Antoine de Saint-Justnot measured- - 10
Joseph Fouché10 decades - 11
Carlo Buonaparte20 decades - 12
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès0 decades - 13
Louis, Duke of Burgundynot measured- - 14
Pasquale Paoli22 decades - 15
Louis Antoine de Bougainville4 decades - 16
André Masséna2 decades - 17
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Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléansnot measured- - 18
Louis, Dauphin of Francenot measured- - 19
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin0 decades - 20
Paul Barras6 decades - 21
Jacques Pierre Brissot0 decades - 22
Chevalier d'Éonnot measured- - 23
Alexandre de Beauharnais22 decades - 24
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan0 decades - 25
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléansnot 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.