← 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
Benjamin Rush22 decades - 2
Josiah Bartlett19 decades
- 3
Joseph Warren22 decades - 4
John Jeffries17 decades - 5
Philip Mazzei4 decades - 6
Samuel Prescottnot measured- - 7
James McClurgnot measured- - 8
Edward Bancroftnot measured- - 9
Thomas Bondnot measured- - 10
James Craiknot measured- - 11
Mason Fitch Cogswellnot measured- - 12
Elisha Perkinsnot measured- - 13
Edward Augustus Holyokenot measured- - 14Nathaniel Alexandernot measured-
- 15
Richard Bayleynot measured- - 16
Adam Kuhnnot measured- - 17
Nathaniel Amesnot measured- - 18Dr. John Sibleynot measured-
- 19Isaac Bronsonnot measured-
- 20
Thomas Trotternot measured- - 21
James Thachernot measured- - 22Charles McKnightnot measured-
- 23William Burnetnot measured-
- 24
William Bromfieldnot measured- - 25
William James Almonnot measured- - 26Absalom Bainbridgenot 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.