215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1920-1929

The 1920s

Whose names filled the books of the 1920s - 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 French books during the 1920s, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Voltaire1694-1778 · 18th century · France · Writers22
  2. 2Louis XIV of France1638-1715 · 17th century · France · Historical Figures19
  3. 3Molière1622-1673 · 17th century · France · Writers17
  4. 4Victor Hugo1802-1885 · 19th century · France · Writers12
  5. 5Stendhal1783-1842 · 19th century · France · Writers11
  6. 6Louis XVI of France1754-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures8.4
  7. 7Louis XV of France1710-1774 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures7.8
  8. 8Montesquieu1689-1755 · 18th century · France · Academics5.5
  9. 9François Fénelon1651-1715 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures5.1
  10. 10Joan of Arc1412-1431 · 15th century · France5.0
  11. 11Anatole France1844-1924 · 19th century · France · Writers4.9
  12. 12George Sand1804-1876 · 19th century · France · Writers4.0
  13. 13Napoleon III1808-1873 · 19th century · France · Politicians3.9
  14. 14Louis XVIII of France1755-1824 · 18th century · France · Politicians3.8
  15. 15Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle1818-1894 · 19th century · France · Writers3.1
  16. 16Francis de Sales1567-1622 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures2.9
  17. 17Marie Antoinette1755-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures2.3
  18. 18Auguste Comte1798-1857 · 19th century · France · Academics2.3
  19. 19Marcel Proust1871-1922 · 20th century · France · Writers2.3
  20. 20Charles X of France1757-1836 · 18th century · France · Politicians2.1
  21. 21Paul Bourget1852-1935 · 19th century · France · Writers2.1
  22. 22Théophile Gautier1811-1872 · 19th century · France · Writers1.9
  23. 23Vincent de Paul1581-1660 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures1.9
  24. 24Louis XII of France1462-1515 · 15th century · France · Historical Figures1.9
  25. 25Claude Bernard1813-1878 · 19th century · France · Politicians1.6
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 1920s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Adolf Hitler1889-1945 · Austria · Politicians10 decades
  2. 2Mao Zedong1893-1976 · China · Politicians13 decades
  3. 3Charlie Chaplin1889-1977 · United Kingdom · Actors11 decades
  4. 4Dwight D. Eisenhower1890-1969 · United States · Politicians9 decades
  5. 5J. R. R. Tolkien1892-1973 · United Kingdom · Writers7 decades
  6. 6Charles de Gaulle1890-1970 · France · Politicians9 decades
  7. 7Agatha Christie1890-1976 · United Kingdom · Writers10 decades
  8. 8Nikita Khrushchev1894-1971 · Russia · Politicians10 decades
  9. 9Hermann Göring1893-1946 · Germany · Politicians9 decades
  10. 10Chiang Kai-shek1887-1975 · Taiwan · Politicians4 decades
  11. 11Francisco Franco1892-1975 · Spain · Politicians9 decades
  12. 12Edward VIII1894-1972 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures9 decades
  13. 13Jawaharlal Nehru1889-1964 · India · Politicians10 decades
  14. 14B. R. Ambedkar1891-1956 · India · Academics8 decades
  15. 15Srinivasa Ramanujan1887-1920 · India · Academics0 decades
  16. 16Ho Chi Minh1890-1969 · Politicians8 decades
  17. 17Erwin Rommel1891-1944 · Germany · Historical Figures8 decades
  18. 18Josip Broz Tito1892-1980 · Hungary · Activists8 decades
  19. 19H. P. Lovecraft1890-1937 · United States · Writers6 decades
  20. 20Haile Selassie1892-1975 · Historical Figures0 decades
  21. 21Sergei Yesenin1895-1925 · Russia · Writers11 decades
  22. 22Rudolf Hess1894-1987 · Egypt · Politicians9 decades
  23. 23George S. Patton1885-1945 · United States · Writers8 decades
  24. 24David Ben-Gurion1886-1973 · Israel · Politiciansnot measured-
  25. 25Karl Dönitz1891-1980 · Germany · Politicians8 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.