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. 1Nikola Tesla1856-1943 · Hungary · Scientists13 decades
  2. 2Charles Darwin1809-1882 · United Kingdom · Scientists21 decades
  3. 3Thomas Edison1847-1931 · United States · Scientists13 decades
  4. 4Alexander Graham Bell1847-1922 · United States · Scientists15 decades
  5. 5Louis Pasteur1822-1895 · France · Scientists14 decades
  6. 6Alfred Nobel1833-1896 · Sweden · Scientists13 decades
  7. 7Dmitri Mendeleev1834-1907 · Russia · Scientists11 decades
  8. 8Michael Faraday1791-1867 · United Kingdom · Scientists20 decades
  9. 9Max Planck1858-1947 · Germany · Scientists14 decades
  10. 10James Clerk Maxwell1831-1879 · United Kingdom · Scientists14 decades
  11. 11Gregor Mendel1822-1884 · Scientists12 decades
  12. 12Pierre Curie1859-1906 · France · Scientists13 decades
  13. 13Gustave Eiffel1832-1923 · France · Scientists10 decades
  14. 14Ivan Pavlov1849-1936 · Russia · Scientists16 decades
  15. 15Wilhelm Röntgen1845-1923 · Germany · Scientists11 decades
  16. 16Konstantin Tsiolkovsky1857-1935 · Russia · Scientists5 decades
  17. 17George Washington Carver1864-1943 · United States · Scientists9 decades
  18. 18J. J. Thomson1856-1940 · United Kingdom · Scientists0 decades
  19. 19Rudolf Diesel1858-1913 · France · Scientists10 decades
  20. 20John Dalton1766-1844 · United Kingdom · Scientists22 decades
  21. 21Santiago Ramón y Cajal1852-1934 · Spain · Scientists13 decades
  22. 22Samuel Morse1791-1872 · United States · Scientists0 decades
  23. 23Ludwig Boltzmann1844-1906 · Austria · Scientists15 decades
  24. 24Louis Braille1809-1852 · France · Scientists14 decades
  25. 25John Muir1838-1914 · United States · Scientists19 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.