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 Russian books during the 1920s, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Leo Tolstoy1828-1910 · 19th century · Russia · Writers4.0
  2. 2Nicholas II of Russia1868-1918 · 20th century · Russia · Historical Figures2.5
  3. 3Nicholas I of Russia1796-1855 · 19th century · Russia · Models2.0
  4. 4Alexander II of Russia1818-1881 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures2.0
  5. 5Alexander III of Russia1845-1894 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures1.9
  6. 6Patriarch Nikon of Moscow1605-1681 · 17th century · Religious Figures1.9
  7. 7Andrei Bely1880-1934 · 20th century · Russia · Writers1.7
  8. 8Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia1899-1918 · 20th century · Russia · Historical Figures1.3
  9. 9Alexander I of Russia1777-1825 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures1.3
  10. 10Maxim Gorky1868-1936 · 20th century · Russia · Writers1.1
  11. 11Boris Godunov1552-1605 · 16th century · Politicians1.1
  12. 12Leonid Andreyev1871-1919 · 20th century · Russia · Writers0.99
  13. 13Alexandra Velyaminova1301-1364 · 14th century0.99
  14. 14Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia1832-1909 · 19th century · Russia · Politicians0.98
  15. 15Alexander Blok1880-1921 · 20th century · Russia · Writers0.95
  16. 16Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia1857-1905 · 19th century · Russia · Politicians0.88
  17. 17Valery Bryusov1873-1924 · 20th century · Russia · Writers0.88
  18. 18Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia1847-1909 · 19th century · Russia · Politicians0.86
  19. 19Alexis of Russia1629-1676 · 17th century · Historical Figures0.84
  20. 20Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia1860-1919 · 19th century · Russia · Politicians0.83
  21. 21Ivan the Terrible1530-1584 · 16th century · Politicians0.81
  22. 22Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia1850-1908 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.78
  23. 23Gleb Uspensky1843-1902 · 19th century · Russia · Writers0.74
  24. 24Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia1864-1931 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.74
  25. 25Ivan I of Tver1357-1425 · 14th century · Historical Figures0.73
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.