← 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
Voltaire37 - 2
Louis XIV of France32 - 3
Louis XVI of France16 - 4
Molière15 - 5
Louis XV of France10 - 6
Montesquieu7.7 - 7
Louis XVIII of France5.7 - 8
François Fénelon5.5
- 9
Louis XII of France5.2 - 10
Victor Hugo3.3 - 11
Charles X of France3.1 - 12
Marie Antoinette2.4 - 13
Joan of Arc2.4 - 14
Francis de Sales2.4 - 15
Philip V of Spain2.2 - 16
Francis II of France1.9 - 17
Marie de' Medici1.9
- 18
Napoleon III1.9 - 19
Vincent de Paul1.9 - 20
Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme1.8 - 21
Louis Blanc1.6 - 22
Benjamin Constant1.5 - 23
Pope Julius II1.5 - 24
Jules Favre1.4 - 25
Jules Simon1.4
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Umberto I of Italy14 decades - 2
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy12 decades - 3
Amadeo I of Spainnot measured- - 4
Maria Christina of the Two Siciliesnot measured- - 5
Charles Felix of Savoy0 decades - 6
Robert I, Duke of Parma0 decades - 7
Giovanni Battista Belzoni4 decades - 8
Prince Henry of Battenbergnot measured- - 9
Princess Maria Clotilde of Savoynot measured- - 10
Princess Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parmanot measured- - 11
Princess Maria Antonia of the Two Siciliesnot measured- - 12
Prince Alfonso, Count of Casertanot measured- - 13
Princess Margherita of Parmanot measured- - 14
Princess Alice of Parmanot measured- - 15
Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Siciliesnot measured- - 16
Prince Louis, Count of Traninot measured- - 17
Prince Henry, Count of Bardinot measured- - 18
Vittorio Bottegonot measured- - 19
Jean-Antoine Carrelnot measured- - 20
Giuseppe Ferlininot measured- - 21
Tommaso Salvadori10 decades - 22
Umberto Cagninot measured- - 23
Romolo Gessinot measured- - 24
Giacomo Bovenot measured- - 25
Prince Pasquale, Count of Barinot measured-
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.