1800–1899
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.
In books written inEnglish18,114German3,599French3,347Italian1,787Spanish1,162Russian325Hebrew105Chinese9
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Per million words
- 1
Voltaire1694–1778 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers37 - 2
Louis XIV of France1638–1715 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures32 - 3
Louis XVI of France1754–1793 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures16 - 4
Molière1622–1673 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers15 - 5
Louis XV of France1710–1774 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures10 - 6
Montesquieu1689–1755 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics7.7 - 7HIHenry II, Count of Euborn 1160 · 12th century · 🇫🇷 France5.7
- 8
Henry II of France1519–1559 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians5.7 - 9
Louis XVIII of France1755–1824 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians5.7 - 10
François Fénelon1651–1715 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures5.5
- 11
Louis XII of France1462–1515 · 15th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures5.2 - 12
Victor Hugo1802–1885 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers3.3 - 13
Charles X of France1757–1836 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians3.1 - 14
Marie Antoinette1755–1793 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures2.4 - 15
Joan of Arc1412–1431 · 15th century · 🇫🇷 France2.4 - 16
Francis de Sales1567–1622 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures2.4 - 17
Philip V of Spain1683–1746 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians2.2 - 18
Francis II of France1544–1560 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians1.9 - 19
Marie de' Medici1575–1642 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians1.9
- 20
Napoleon III1808–1873 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians1.9 - 21
Vincent de Paul1581–1660 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures1.9 - 22
Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme1540–1614 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers1.8 - 23
Louis Blanc1811–1882 · 19th century · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians1.6 - 24
Benjamin Constant1767–1830 · 19th century · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Politicians1.5 - 25
Pope Julius II1443–1513 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures1.5 - 26
Jules Favre1809–1880 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians1.4 - 27
Jules Simon1814–1896 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians1.4 - 28
Pierre de Marivaux1688–1763 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers1.2 - 29
Alexandre Dumas fils1824–1895 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers1.1 - 30
Jules Ferry1832–1893 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians1.1 - 31
Charles de Lorraine de Vaudémont1561–1587 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures0.94
- 32
Charles of Lorraine1567–1607 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France0.94 - 33
Camille Desmoulins1760–1794 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Journalists0.90 - 34
Pope John XXII1244–1334 · 13th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures0.89
- 35
Alexandre Dumas1802–1870 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.87 - 36
George Sand1804–1876 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.85
- 37
Firmin Didot1764–1836 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.80 - 38
Claude Bernard1813–1878 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.79 - 39
Pope Clement V1264–1314 · 13th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures0.78
- 40
Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778 · 18th century · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics0.76 - 41
Françoise d'Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon1635–1719 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.76 - 42
Odilon Barrot1791–1873 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.76 - 43
Louis XVII of France1785–1795 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France0.73 - 44
Louis Bonaparte1778–1846 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.73 - 45
Anne of Brittany1477–1514 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France0.73 - 46
La Grange1635–1692 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Actors0.73 - 47
Auguste Comte1798–1857 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.69 - 48
Charles the Bold1433–1477 · 15th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.69 - 49
Alfred de Musset1810–1857 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.68 - 50
André Chénier1762–1794 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.66 - 51
Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liège1438–1482 · 15th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.62 - 52
Louis de Bourbon, Count of Clermont1709–1771 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France0.62 - 53
Louis, Count of Vermandois1667–1683 · 17th century0.62 - 54
Louis, Count of Soissons1604–1641 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France0.62 - 55
Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre1725–1793 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.62 - 56
Margaret of Valois1553–1615 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.61 - 57
Gustav III of Sweden1746–1792 · 18th century · 🇸🇪 Sweden · Politicians0.58 - 58
Théophile Gautier1811–1872 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.57 - 59
Diane de Poitiers1499–1566 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France0.56 - 60
Olivier de Serres1539–1619 · 16th century · Writers0.55 - 61
Nostradamus1503–1566 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.53 - 62
Jeanne d'Albret1528–1572 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.52 - 63
Augustin Thierry1795–1856 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.52 - 64
Napoleon1769–1821 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0.51 - 65
Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy1480–1530 · 16th century · 🇪🇸 Spain · Artists0.49 - 66
Joseph Bonaparte1768–1844 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.49 - 67
Charlotte Corday1768–1793 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0.48
- 68
Joseph de Maistre1753–1821 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.48 - 69
Ambroise Paré1510–1590 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Doctors0.48 - 70
Mary of Burgundy1457–1482 · 15th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.47 - 71
Pierre Corneille1606–1684 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.46 - 72
Stendhal1783–1842 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.45 - 73
Claude Michel1738–1814 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Artists0.45 - 74
Pierre Leroux1797–1871 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.44 - 75
Charles Nodier1780–1844 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.43 - 76
Maine de Biran1766–1824 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.43 - 77
Lucien Bonaparte1775–1840 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.42 - 78
Casimir Delavigne1793–1843 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.42 - 79
Charles, Count of Soissons1566–1612 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France0.40 - 80
Louis Racine1692–1763 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.40 - 81
Vincent of Beauvais1190–1264 · 13th century · Educators0.40 - 82
Jean Goujon1510–1567 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Architects0.39 - 83
Pope Urban V1310–1370 · 14th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures0.39 - 84
Thomas Corneille1625–1709 · 17th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.38 - 85
Horace Vernet1789–1863 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Artists0.38 - 86
Gaston Paris1839–1903 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.37 - 87
Antoine of Navarre1518–1562 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.36 - 88
Félix Faure1841–1899 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.36 - 89
Jacques Clément1567–1589 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France0.36 - 90
Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville1746–1795 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.36 - 91
Pope Clement IV1190–1268 · 13th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures0.35
- 92
Pope Gregory XI1329–1378 · 14th century · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures0.35 - 93
Charles Dupin1784–1873 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.35 - 94
Napoléon, Prince Imperial1856–1879 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.34 - 95
Napoleon II1811–1832 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Designers0.33 - 96
John of Luxembourg, Lord of Beauvoir1370–1397 · 14th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.33 - 97
Alfred de Vigny1797–1863 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.33 - 98
Prince Philippe, Count of Paris1838–1894 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Politicians0.32 - 99
Blanche of Castile1188–1252 · 13th century · 🇪🇸 Spain · Historical Figures0.32 - 100
Camille Jordan1838–1922 · 19th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.32
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where Wikipedia coverage and readership agree.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
Jane Austen1775–1817 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 2
Oscar Wilde1854–1900 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 3
Charles Dickens1812–1870 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers20 decades - 4
Lord Byron1788–1824 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 5
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers12 decades - 6
Robert Louis Stevenson1850–1894 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers15 decades - 7
Mary Shelley1797–1851 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers16 decades - 8
Emily Brontë1818–1848 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 9
Lewis Carroll1832–1898 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers16 decades - 10
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 11
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell1857–1941 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 12
Charlotte Brontë1816–1855 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers17 decades - 13
Walter Scott1771–1832 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 14
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers21 decades - 15
George Eliot1819–1880 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 16
John Keats1795–1821 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers21 decades - 17
John Ruskin1819–1900 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers18 decades - 18
Anne Brontë1820–1849 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers1 decades - 19
Thomas Hardy1840–1928 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers18 decades - 20
J. M. Barrie1860–1937 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 21
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers20 decades - 22
William Wordsworth1770–1850 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 23
Alfred Tennyson1809–1892 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 24
Samuel Taylor Coleridge1772–1834 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 25
Dante Gabriel Rossetti1828–1882 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers15 decades - 26
Annie Besant1847–1933 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers15 decades - 27
Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers17 decades - 28
Robert Browning1812–1889 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 29
Jerome K. Jerome1859–1927 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 30
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers6 decades - 31
H. Rider Haggard1856–1925 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 32
Samuel Butler1835–1902 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 33
Thomas Moore1779–1852 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 34
Thomas De Quincey1785–1859 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers17 decades - 35
Thomas Babington Macaulay1800–1859 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 36
Kenneth Grahame1859–1932 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 37
George MacDonald1824–1905 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers16 decades - 38
Gerard Manley Hopkins1844–1889 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers9 decades - 39
Matthew Arnold1822–1888 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers17 decades - 40
Edith Nesbit1858–1924 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers1 decades - 41
William Hazlitt1778–1830 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers21 decades - 42
Arthur Machen1863–1947 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers12 decades - 43
Robert Southey1774–1843 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 44
Henry Irving1838–1905 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers15 decades - 45
Anne Lister1791–1840 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers2 decades - 46
Lady Caroline Lamb1785–1828 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers20 decades - 47
James Mill1773–1836 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 48
Harriet Martineau1802–1876 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers19 decades - 49
George Meredith1828–1909 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers17 decades - 50
Edward Carpenter1844–1929 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 51
M. R. James1862–1936 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 52
Anna Sewell1820–1878 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers3 decades - 53
John Clare1793–1864 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 54
Andrew Lang1844–1912 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers16 decades - 55
Matthew Gregory Lewis1775–1818 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers2 decades - 56
Frederick Marryat1792–1848 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers11 decades - 57
Howard Staunton1810–1874 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers4 decades - 58
Ouida1839–1908 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers16 decades - 59
Mary Kingsley1862–1900 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 60
Edward FitzGerald1809–1883 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 61
Anne Isabella Byron1792–1860 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers0 decades - 62
Sabine Baring-Gould1834–1924 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers0 decades - 63
Elinor Glyn1864–1943 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers12 decades - 64
W. W. Jacobs1863–1943 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers8 decades - 65
James Hogg1770–1835 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 66
Amelia Edwards1831–1892 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers0 decades - 67
Anthony Hope1863–1933 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers13 decades - 68
Catherine Dickens1815–1879 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 69
Walter Savage Landor1775–1864 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers20 decades - 70
Mary Elizabeth Braddon1835–1915 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers2 decades - 71
Joseph Jacobs1854–1916 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 72
J. B. Bury1861–1927 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers0 decades - 73
Jane Ellen Harrison1850–1928 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers1 decades - 74
Henry McMahon1862–1949 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers9 decades - 75
Henry Thomas Buckle1821–1862 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers6 decades - 76
Edmund Gosse1849–1928 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 77
John Addington Symonds1840–1893 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 78
Vernon Lee1856–1935 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 79
Frank Harris1856–1931 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured—
- 80
Arthur Quiller-Couch1863–1944 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 81
Robert Bridges1844–1930 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 82
Herbert Giles1845–1935 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers0 decades - 83
Mary Augusta Ward1851–1920 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers0 decades - 84
Reginald Wingate1861–1953 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 85
Hall Caine1853–1931 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 86
Alfred Austin1835–1913 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers14 decades - 87
Alexander Wilson1766–1813 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers22 decades - 88
Arthur Wing Pinero1855–1934 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers8 decades - 89
Helen Bannerman1862–1946 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 90
Kate Marsden1859–1931 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 91
Constance Garnett1861–1946 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 92
Olivia Shakespear1863–1938 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 93
William Ralph Inge1860–1954 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 94
Margot Asquith1864–1945 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 95
James Churchward1851–1936 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 96
Frances Trollope1780–1863 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 97
William Sharp1855–1905 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 98RAR. Austin Freeman1862–1943 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured—
- 99
Frances Ridley Havergal1836–1879 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured— - 100
May Sinclair1863–1946 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writersnot measured—
How this is measured
- Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
- Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
- Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
- What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.