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 Chinese books during the 1940s, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Mao Zedong1893-1976 · 20th century · China · Politicians28
  2. 2Cao Xueqin1724-1760 · 18th century · China · Writers25
  3. 3Zhou Enlai1898-1976 · 20th century · China · Politicians9.6
  4. 4Confucius551 BC-479 BC · 1st millennium BC · China · Academics6.6
  5. 5Lin Biao1907-1971 · 20th century · China · Politicians6.1
  6. 6Deng Xiaoping1904-1997 · 20th century · China · Politicians5.3
  7. 7Liu Shaoqi1898-1969 · 20th century · China · Politicians3.3
  8. 8Lu Xun1881-1936 · 20th century · China · Writers2.7
  9. 9Zhu De1886-1976 · 20th century · China · Politicians2.3
  10. 10Jiang Qing1914-1991 · 20th century · China · Actors2.1
  11. 11Sun Yat-sen1866-1925 · 20th century · China · Politicians1.7
  12. 12Zhao Ziyang1919-2005 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.62
  13. 13Li Peng1928-2019 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.60
  14. 14Jiang Zemin1926-2022 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.53
  15. 15Soong Ching-ling1893-1981 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.34
  16. 16Gao Ming1305-1370 · 14th century · Writers0.21
  17. 17Hua Guofeng1921-2008 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.19
  18. 18Qu Yuan343 BC-278 BC · 1st millennium BC · China · Writers0.17
  19. 19Chen-ning Yang1922-2025 · 20th century · China · Scientists0.15
  20. 20Zhuang Zhou369 BC-288 BC · 1st millennium BC · China · Academics0.11
  21. 21Lin Tse-hsu1785-1850 · 19th century · Politicians0.11
  22. 22Hu Jintaoborn 1942 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.09
  23. 23Kang Youwei1858-1927 · 19th century · China · Politicians0.09
  24. 24Li Qingzhao1084-1155 · 12th century · China · Writers0.08
  25. 25Laozi579 BC-500 BC · 1st millennium BC · Academics0.08
  26. 26Tao Yuanming365-427 · 5th century · China · Writers0.08
  27. 27Li Bai701-762 · 8th century · Writers0.08
  28. 28Hong Xiuquan1814-1864 · 19th century · China · Politicians0.06
  29. 29Yan Fu1854-1921 · 19th century · Writers0.06
  30. 30Kim Il-sung1912-1994 · 20th century · North Korea · Politicians0.04
  31. 31Yuan Shikai1859-1916 · 19th century · China · Politicians0.04
  32. 32Du Fu712-770 · 8th century · China · Writers0.04
  33. 33Koxinga1624-1662 · 17th century · Japan · Politicians0.04
  34. 34Li Zicheng1606-1645 · 17th century · China · Politicians0.04
  35. 35Wang Wei699-759 · 8th century · China · Writers0.04
  36. 36Chien-Shiung Wu1912-1997 · 20th century · United States · Scientists0.04
  37. 37Chiang Ching-kuo1910-1988 · 20th century · China · Politicians0.04
  38. 38Wang Yangming1472-1529 · 16th century · China · Academics0.04
  39. 39Hai Rui1514-1587 · 16th century0.02
  40. 40Zhuge Liang181-234 · 3rd century · China · Politicians0.02
  41. 41Huang Huai1367-1449 · 15th century · Writers0.02
  42. 42Wu Qi440 BC-381 BC · 1st millennium BC · Politicians0.02
  43. 43Pu Songling1640-1715 · 17th century · China · Writers0.02
  44. 44Emperor Wu of Han156 BC-87 BC · 1st millennium BC · Writers0.02
  45. 45Guangxu Emperor1871-1908 · 20th century · China0.02

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.