215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1940-1949

The 1940s

Whose names filled the books of the 1940s - 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 Spanish books during the 1940s, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Lope de Vega1562-1635 · 16th century · Spain · Writers7.9
  2. 2John of God1495-1550 · 16th century · Portugal7.0
  3. 3Francis Xavier1506-1552 · 16th century · Spain · Religious Figures5.8
  4. 4Rubén Darío1867-1916 · 20th century · Nicaragua · Writers5.1
  5. 5Christopher Columbus1451-1506 · 15th century · Italy · Historical Figures4.8
  6. 6Hernán Cortés1485-1547 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures4.6
  7. 7Simón Bolívar1783-1830 · 19th century · Spain · Politicians4.1
  8. 8John of the Cross1542-1591 · 16th century · Spain · Writers3.3
  9. 9José de San Martín1778-1850 · 19th century · Argentina · Politicians3.3
  10. 10Andrés Bello1781-1865 · 19th century · Chile · Politicians3.1
  11. 11Gonzalo Pizarro1502-1548 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.8
  12. 12Bartolomé Mitre1821-1906 · 19th century · Argentina · Politicians2.7
  13. 13Miguel de Cervantes1547-1616 · 16th century · Spain · Writers2.6
  14. 14Francisco Pizarro1478-1541 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.5
  15. 15Juan Fernández1529-1602 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.3
  16. 16Bernardino Rivadavia1780-1845 · 19th century · Argentina · Politicians2.3
  17. 17John of Austria1547-1578 · 16th century · Spain · Politicians2.2
  18. 18Porfirio Díaz1830-1915 · 19th century · Mexico · Politicians2.1
  19. 19Juan Manuel de Rosas1793-1877 · 19th century · Argentina · Politicians2.0
  20. 20Bartolomé de las Casas1484-1566 · 16th century · Spain · Writers2.0
  21. 21Pedro de Alvarado1486-1541 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures1.9
  22. 22Tirso de Molina1583-1648 · 17th century · Spain · Writers1.9
  23. 23Teresa of Ávila1515-1582 · 16th century · Spain · Writers1.8
  24. 24Diego Velázquez1599-1660 · 17th century · Spain · Artists1.8
  25. 25Garcilaso de la Vega1503-1536 · 16th century · Spain · Writers1.7
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 1940s, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Ronald Reagan1911-2004 · United States · Politicians9 decades
  2. 2Richard Nixon1913-1994 · United States · Politicians8 decades
  3. 3Frida Kahlo1907-1954 · Mexico · Artists8 decades
  4. 4Lyndon B. Johnson1908-1973 · United States · Politicians8 decades
  5. 5Alan Turing1912-1954 · United Kingdom · Academics4 decades
  6. 6Gerald Ford1913-2006 · United States · Politicians6 decades
  7. 7Anne Frank1929-1945 · Germany · Writers7 decades
  8. 8Mother Teresa1910-1997 · Albania · Musicians9 decades
  9. 9Leonid Brezhnev1906-1982 · Russia · Politicians7 decades
  10. 10John Wayne1907-1979 · United States · Actors9 decades
  11. 11Albert Camus1913-1960 · France · Academics8 decades
  12. 12Pope John Paul I1912-1978 · Italy · Religious Figures2 decades
  13. 13Katharine Hepburn1907-2003 · United States · Actors9 decades
  14. 14Rosa Parks1913-2005 · United States · Activists6 decades
  15. 15Ayn Rand1905-1982 · United States · Writers3 decades
  16. 16James Stewart1908-1997 · United States · Actorsnot measured-
  17. 17Adolf Eichmann1906-1962 · Austria · Politicians8 decades
  18. 18Hedy Lamarr1914-2000 · Austria · Actors3 decades
  19. 19Bette Davis1908-1989 · United States · Actors9 decades
  20. 20Wernher von Braun1912-1977 · United States · Scientists7 decades
  21. 21Hannah Arendt1906-1975 · United States · Academics8 decades
  22. 22Jean-Paul Sartre1905-1980 · France · Academics9 decades
  23. 23Ian Fleming1908-1964 · United Kingdom · Writers7 decades
  24. 24Vivien Leigh1913-1967 · United Kingdom · Actors8 decades
  25. 25Akira Kurosawa1910-1998 · Japan · Directors6 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.