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 Italian books during the 19th century — whenever they lived.
In books written inEnglish18,114German3,599French3,347Italian1,787Spanish1,162Russian325Hebrew105Chinese9
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Per million words
- 1
Giotto1267–1337 · 14th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists5.5 - 2
Antonio da Correggio1489–1534 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists5.0 - 3
Lorenzo de' Medici1449–1492 · 15th century · Politicians3.0 - 4
Dante Alighieri1265–1321 · 14th century · Writers2.9 - 5
Pietro Perugino1448–1523 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists2.9 - 6
Donato Bramante1444–1514 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Architects2.6 - 7
Torquato Tasso1544–1595 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers2.6 - 8
Caravaggio1571–1610 · 17th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists2.1 - 9
Apostolo Zeno1668–1750 · 18th century · Writers2.1 - 10
Cimabue1240–1302 · 13th century · Artists2.1 - 11
Tintoretto1519–1594 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.9 - 12
Charles Borromeo1538–1584 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures1.8 - 13
Donatello1386–1466 · 15th century · Artists1.8 - 14
Paul the Deacon720–799 · 8th century · Writers1.8 - 15
Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.7 - 16
Philip Neri1515–1595 · 16th century · Religious Figures1.7 - 17
Marco Polo1254–1324 · 13th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians1.7 - 18
Cosimo de' Medici1389–1464 · 15th century · Politicians1.7 - 19
Galileo Galilei1564–1642 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Scientists1.7 - 20
Andrea Doria1466–1560 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians1.6 - 21
Giulio Romano1499–1546 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.6 - 22
Guercino1591–1666 · 17th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.5 - 23
Domenichino1581–1641 · 17th century · Artists1.5 - 24
Ugo Foscolo1778–1827 · 19th century · Writers1.4 - 25
Petrarch1304–1374 · 14th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Academics1.4 - 26
Andrea del Sarto1486–1530 · 16th century · Artists1.2 - 27
Pietro Aretino1492–1556 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers1.2 - 28
Alessandro Manzoni1785–1873 · 19th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers1.2 - 29
Giorgio Vasari1511–1574 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.2 - 30
Masaccio1401–1428 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.1 - 31
Baldassare Franceschini1611–1690 · 17th century · Artists1.1 - 32
Francis of Assisi1182–1226 · 13th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers1.1 - 33
Cesare Borgia1475–1507 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Historical Figures1.1 - 34
Paolo Veronese1528–1588 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.1 - 35
Guido Reni1575–1642 · 17th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists1.0 - 36
Dino Compagni1255–1324 · 13th century · Writers1.0 - 37
Pietro Bembo1470–1547 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures1.00 - 38
Guido Cavalcanti1258–1300 · 13th century · Writers0.99 - 39
Niccolò Machiavelli1469–1527 · 16th century · Politicians0.99 - 40
Filippo Maria Visconti1392–1447 · 15th century · Politicians0.97 - 41
Cesare Balbo1789–1853 · 19th century · Politicians0.97 - 42
Giuseppe Mazzini1805–1872 · 19th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Activists0.93 - 43
Prospero Colonna1452–1523 · 15th century0.90 - 44
Benvenuto Cellini1500–1571 · 16th century · Artists0.90 - 45
Benedetto Varchi1503–1565 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.88 - 46
Francesco Guicciardini1483–1540 · 16th century · Writers0.88 - 47
Aloysius Gonzaga1568–1591 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Religious Figures0.88 - 48
Vittorio Alfieri1749–1803 · 18th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Historical Figures0.87 - 49
Silvio Pellico1789–1854 · 19th century · Writers0.87 - 50
Cesare Cantù1804–1895 · 19th century · Writers0.87 - 51
Giacomo Leopardi1798–1837 · 19th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.85 - 52
Vincenzo Gioberti1801–1852 · 19th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Academics0.85 - 53
Giovanni Boccaccio1313–1375 · 14th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.85 - 54
Francesco Redi1626–1697 · 17th century · Doctors0.85 - 55
Francesco Gonzaga1444–1483 · 15th century0.84 - 56
Franco Sacchetti1332–1400 · 14th century · Writers0.82 - 57
Teodato Ipato750–800 · 8th century · Politicians0.80 - 58
Salvator Rosa1615–1673 · 17th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.76 - 59
Giordano Bruno1548–1600 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Academics0.75 - 60
Girolamo Savonarola1452–1498 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0.74 - 61
Domenico Passignano1559–1638 · 16th century · Artists0.74 - 62
Paolo Sarpi1552–1623 · 16th century · Academics0.73 - 63
Parmigianino1503–1540 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.72 - 64
Paolo Giovio1483–1552 · 16th century · Writers0.71 - 65
Massimo d'Azeglio1798–1866 · 19th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0.71 - 66
Aldus Manutius1449–1515 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy0.71 - 67AMAldus Manutius the Younger1547–1597 · 16th century0.71
- 68
Bernardo Tasso1493–1569 · 16th century · Writers0.71 - 69
Lucrezia Borgia1480–1519 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Historical Figures0.69 - 70
Pietro da Cortona1596–1669 · 17th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.69
- 71MVMatteo Villani1283–1363 · 14th century · Writers0.68
- 72
Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei1675–1755 · 18th century · Writers0.66 - 73
Luigi Alamanni1495–1556 · 16th century · Writers0.65 - 74
Vittoria Colonna1492–1547 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.64 - 75
Pietro Verri1728–1797 · 18th century · Academics0.64 - 76
Pinturicchio1454–1513 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.64 - 77
Giuliano de' Medici1453–1478 · 15th century · Politicians0.62 - 78
Marsilio Ficino1433–1499 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Academics0.62 - 79
Filippo Villani1325–1407 · 14th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.62 - 80
Paulus Manutius1512–1574 · 16th century · Writers0.61 - 81
Catherine de' Medici1519–1589 · 16th century · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures0.60 - 82
Scipione Ammirato1531–1601 · 16th century · Writers0.58 - 83
Bernardino of Siena1380–1444 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Academics0.58 - 84
Francesco Filelfo1398–1481 · 15th century · Academics0.56 - 85
Andrea Gritti1455–1538 · 15th century · Politicians0.56 - 86
Pontormo1494–1556 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.52 - 87
Antonio Rosmini1797–1855 · 19th century · Academics0.51 - 88
Leon Battista Alberti1404–1472 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Architects0.49 - 89
Francesco Foscari1373–1457 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Politicians0.47 - 90
Giosuè Carducci1835–1907 · 19th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.47 - 91
Andrea Dandolo1306–1354 · 14th century · Politicians0.45 - 92
Alessandro Cagliostro1743–1795 · 18th century · 🇫🇷 France · Doctors0.45 - 93
Francesco Vettori1474–1540 · 16th century · Writers0.45 - 94
Leandro Alberti1479–1552 · 16th century · Writers0.45 - 95
Amerigo Vespucci1454–1512 · 15th century · Historical Figures0.44 - 96
Erasmo of Narni1370–1443 · 15th century · 🇮🇹 Italy0.44 - 97
Anton Maria Salvini1653–1729 · 17th century · Writers0.43 - 98
Michelangelo1475–1564 · 16th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.43 - 99
Francesca da Rimini1259–1285 · 13th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Writers0.42 - 100
Antonio Canova1757–1822 · 18th century · 🇮🇹 Italy · Artists0.42
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
Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers17 decades - 2
Mark Twain1835–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 3
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 4
Harriet Tubman1821–1913 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers9 decades - 5
Emily Dickinson1830–1886 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 6
Walt Whitman1819–1892 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers17 decades - 7
Herman Melville1819–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 8
Henry James1843–1916 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 9
Louisa May Alcott1832–1888 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 10
Frederick Douglass1818–1895 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 11
Nathaniel Hawthorne1804–1864 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers19 decades - 12
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers17 decades - 13
James Fenimore Cooper1789–1851 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 14
Edith Wharton1862–1937 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 15
Washington Irving1783–1859 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers22 decades - 16
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow1807–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 17
Buffalo Bill1846–1917 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 18
Susan B. Anthony1820–1906 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 19
L. Frank Baum1856–1919 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers8 decades - 20
Sojourner Truth1797–1883 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 21
William Tecumseh Sherman1820–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 22
Frances Hodgson Burnett1849–1924 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 23
O. Henry1862–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 24
Ellen G. White1827–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers6 decades - 25
Charles Taze Russell1852–1916 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 26
Charlotte Perkins Gilman1860–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers9 decades - 27
Elizabeth Cady Stanton1815–1902 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 28
Kate Chopin1850–1904 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers8 decades - 29
Mary Baker Eddy1821–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 30
Margaret Fuller1810–1850 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 31
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.1809–1894 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers19 decades - 32
Clara Barton1821–1912 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 33
Francis Scott Key1779–1843 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 34
Alfred Thayer Maan1840–1914 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 35
Albert Pike1809–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 36
Jeanette Jerome1854–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 37
Louisa Adams1775–1852 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 38
Julia Ward Howe1819–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 39
Elbert Green Hubbard1856–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 40
Charles J. Guiteau1841–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers1 decades - 41
Emma Lazarus1849–1887 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 42
Elizabeth Ann Seton1774–1821 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers2 decades - 43
Ernest Thompson Seton1860–1946 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers12 decades - 44
Lucretia Mott1793–1880 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades
- 45
Dolley Madison1768–1849 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers7 decades - 46
Thomas Mayne Reid1818–1883 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 47
Bret Harte1836–1902 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 48
Dorothea Dix1802–1887 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 49
Horatio Alger1832–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 50
A. E. Waite1857–1942 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers2 decades
- 51
Carrie Nation1846–1911 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers8 decades - 52
George Dewey1837–1917 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 53
John Greenleaf Whittier1807–1892 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 54
Harriet Jacobs1815–1897 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers3 decades - 55
William Cullen Bryant1794–1878 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers20 decades - 56
James Russell Lowell1819–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers18 decades - 57
Allan Pinkerton1819–1884 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 58
Edward Bellamy1850–1898 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 59
Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe1822–1847 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 60
Frederick Jackson Turner1861–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers12 decades - 61
Henry Steel Olcott1832–1907 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 62
Joshua Slocum1844–1909 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers6 decades - 63
Charles Grandison Finney1792–1875 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers5 decades - 64
Oliver Otis Howard1830–1909 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers4 decades - 65
Sylvester Graham1794–1851 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers8 decades - 66
Juliette Gordon Low1860–1927 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 67
Katharine Lee Bates1859–1929 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers6 decades - 68
William Dean Howells1837–1920 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 69
Mirabeau B. Lamar1798–1859 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers6 decades - 70
Archibald Gracie IV1859–1912 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 71
William Hickling Prescott1796–1859 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers8 decades - 72
Frederick Russell Burnham1861–1947 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 73
Anna J. Cooper1858–1964 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 74
Naftali Herz Imber1856–1909 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades - 75
Wilhelm Weitling1808–1871 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 76
Varina Davis1826–1906 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 77
Henrietta Szold1860–1945 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers11 decades - 78
Lydia Maria Child1802–1880 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 79
Ella Wheeler Wilcox1850–1919 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 80
Sarah Josepha Hale1788–1879 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers7 decades - 81
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper1825–1911 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers3 decades - 82
Andrew Dickson White1832–1918 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers13 decades - 83
George Washington Williams1849–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 84
Frances Willard1839–1898 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 85
Sarah Grimké1792–1873 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers1 decades - 86
Sarah Orne Jewett1849–1909 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers14 decades - 87
Henry van Dyke1852–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers8 decades - 88
Caroline Ingalls1839–1924 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 89
Sidney Lanier1842–1881 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers15 decades - 90
John Burroughs1837–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 91
Richard Henry Dana1815–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 92
William Chester Minor1834–1920 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 93
Mary Mapes Dodge1831–1905 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers10 decades - 94
Edward Everett Hale1822–1909 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers16 decades - 95
Laura Bridgman1829–1889 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 96
Sarah Winnemucca1844–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers4 decades - 97
Catharine Beecher1800–1878 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 98
William Gillette1853–1937 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writersnot measured— - 99
Charles Brockden Brown1771–1810 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers21 decades - 100
John Watson Foster1836–1917 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers0 decades
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.