← 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
James Cook22 decades - 2
Anne, Queen of Great Britain0 decades - 3
George III of the United Kingdom0 decades - 4
Blackbeard22 decades - 5
George Vancouver14 decades - 6
Alexander Selkirk22 decades - 7
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albanynot measured- - 8
Mary Wortley Montagu22 decades - 9
George Anson, 1st Baron Ansonnot measured- - 10
James Bruce22 decades - 11
Charlotte Stuart, Duchess of Albanynot measured- - 12
John Webber18 decades - 13Thomas Gilbertnot measured-
- 14
William FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Clevelandnot measured- - 15
John Evansnot measured- - 16
Charles William Barkleynot measured- - 17
John Eltonnot measured- - 18Elizabeth Bentincknot measured-
- 19
Anne Fitzpatricknot measured- - 20Dunbar Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirknot measured-
- 21Henry Hackingnot measured-
- 22William Moornot measured-
- 23Thomas Ebrillnot measured-
- 24Anne Hamilton, Marchioness of Abercornnot 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.