215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1800-1899

The 19th century

Whose names filled the books of the 19th century - 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 19th century, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Voltaire1694-1778 · 18th century · France · Writers37
  2. 2Louis XIV of France1638-1715 · 17th century · France · Historical Figures32
  3. 3Louis XVI of France1754-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures16
  4. 4Molière1622-1673 · 17th century · France · Writers15
  5. 5Louis XV of France1710-1774 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures10
  6. 6Montesquieu1689-1755 · 18th century · France · Academics7.7
  7. 7Louis XVIII of France1755-1824 · 18th century · France · Politicians5.7
  8. 8François Fénelon1651-1715 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures5.5
  9. 9Louis XII of France1462-1515 · 15th century · France · Historical Figures5.2
  10. 10Victor Hugo1802-1885 · 19th century · France · Writers3.3
  11. 11Charles X of France1757-1836 · 18th century · France · Politicians3.1
  12. 12Marie Antoinette1755-1793 · 18th century · France · Historical Figures2.4
  13. 13Joan of Arc1412-1431 · 15th century · France2.4
  14. 14Francis de Sales1567-1622 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures2.4
  15. 15Philip V of Spain1683-1746 · 18th century · France · Politicians2.2
  16. 16Francis II of France1544-1560 · 16th century · France · Politicians1.9
  17. 17Marie de' Medici1575-1642 · 17th century · France · Politicians1.9
  18. 18Napoleon III1808-1873 · 19th century · France · Politicians1.9
  19. 19Vincent de Paul1581-1660 · 17th century · France · Religious Figures1.9
  20. 20Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme1540-1614 · 16th century · France · Writers1.8
  21. 21Louis Blanc1811-1882 · 19th century · Spain · Politicians1.6
  22. 22Benjamin Constant1767-1830 · 19th century · Switzerland · Politicians1.5
  23. 23Pope Julius II1443-1513 · 15th century · Italy · Religious Figures1.5
  24. 24Jules Favre1809-1880 · 19th century · France · Politicians1.4
  25. 25Jules Simon1814-1896 · 19th century · France · Politicians1.4
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Jules Vallès1832-1885 · France · Journalists16 decades
  2. 2Jules Guesde1845-1922 · France · Journalists14 decades
  3. 3Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr1808-1890 · France · Journalists19 decades
  4. 4Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire1802-1861 · France · Journalists14 decades
  5. 5Édouard Drumont1844-1917 · France · Journalists14 decades
  6. 6Victor Noir1848-1870 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  7. 7Jean-Lambert Tallien1767-1820 · France · Journalists0 decades
  8. 8Henri Rochefort1831-1913 · France · Journalists17 decades
  9. 9Louis Charles Delescluze1809-1871 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  10. 10Maurice Joly1829-1878 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  11. 11Charles-Louis Havas1783-1858 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  12. 12Félix Fénéon1861-1944 · France · Journalists13 decades
  13. 13Marguerite Durand1864-1936 · France · Journalists13 decades
  14. 14Maria Deraismes1828-1894 · France · Journalists9 decades
  15. 15Louis Veuillot1813-1883 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  16. 16François Mignet1796-1884 · France · Journalists0 decades
  17. 17Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray1838-1901 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  18. 18Jean Grave1854-1939 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  19. 19Alfred Capus1857-1922 · France · Journalists13 decades
  20. 20Conrad Malte-Brun1775-1826 · France · Journalists4 decades
  21. 21Petrus Borel1809-1859 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  22. 22Théophile Thoré-Bürger1807-1869 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  23. 23Paul Alexis1847-1901 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
  24. 24Arsène Arnaud Claretie1840-1913 · France · Journalists16 decades
  25. 25Anselme Bellegarrigue1813-1890 · France · Journalistsnot measured-
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.