← 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
Voltaire22 decades - 2
Olympe de Gouges22 decades - 3
Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeaunot measured- - 4
Pierre Beaumarchaisnot measured- - 5
Marie Leszczyńska13 decades - 6
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffonnot measured- - 7
Pierre de Marivaux22 decades - 8
Antoine François Prévost12 decades - 9
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos2 decades - 10
Manon Roland10 decades - 11
André Chénier22 decades - 12
Charles François Dumouriez0 decades - 13
Jeanne Marie Leprince de Beaumontnot measured- - 14
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simonnot measured- - 15
Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierrenot measured- - 16
Nicolas-Edme Rétifnot measured- - 17
Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémynot measured- - 18
Antoine de Rivarol3 decades - 19
Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de Saint-Aubin de Genlis0 decades - 20
Alain-René Lesage2 decades - 21
Joseph Joubert14 decades - 22
Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuvenot measured- - 23
Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenarguesnot measured- - 24
Jean-Pierre Claris de Floriannot measured- - 25
Adamantios Koraisnot 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.