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 Hebrew books during the 19th century — whenever they lived.
In books written inEnglish18,114German3,599French3,347Italian1,787Spanish1,162Russian325Hebrew105Chinese9
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Per million words
- 1
Rav Ashi352–427 · 4th century13 - 2
Haggaiborn 550 BC · 1st millennium BC · Religious Figures12 - 3SBSimeon ben Gamliel IIborn 100 · 2nd century12
- 4NTNathan the Babylonianborn 101 · 2nd century11
- 5
Habakkuk626 BC–600 BC · 1st millennium BC · Religious Figures7.3 - 6
Johanan ben Zakai50 BC–70 · 1st millennium BC4.8 - 7
Saadia Gaon882–942 · 10th century · Academics3.7 - 8SBSimeon ben Zomadied 200 · 2nd century3.4
- 9
Hai Gaon939–1038 · 10th century · Writers2.9 - 10
Hillel the Elder50 BC–100 · 1st millennium BC2.9
- 11
Sabbatai Zevi1626–1676 · 17th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Religious Figures2.3 - 12
Ahad Ha'am1856–1927 · 19th century · Writers2.2 - 13SISamuel ibn Naghrillah993–1055 · 11th century · Writers2.1
- 14
Isaac Abrabanel1437–1508 · 15th century · Academics1.6 - 15JBJudah ben Samuel of Regensburg1150–1217 · 12th century · Academics1.5
- 16
Judas Maccabeus500 BC–160 BC · 1st millennium BC · Religious Figures1.3
- 17HBHanina ben Dosa40–75 · 1st century1.3
- 18
Menasseh Ben Israel1604–1657 · 17th century · Academics1.2 - 19JKJoseph Kimhi1105–1170 · 12th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers1.0
- 20YYanaiborn 600 · 7th century · Writers0.99
- 21EBEliezer ben Hurcanus100–200 · 2nd century0.89
- 22
Rabbeinu Tam1100–1171 · 12th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.83 - 23
Josephus37–100 · 1st century · Writers0.74 - 24
Amram Gaon810–875 · 9th century0.67 - 25
Chaim Joseph David Azulai1724–1806 · 18th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Historical Figures0.66 - 26EBEleazar ben Arach100–200 · 2nd century0.65
- 27
Azariah dei Rossi1513–1578 · 16th century · Writers0.64 - 28ZHZerachiah haLevi of Girona1130–1186 · 12th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.63
- 29
Abraham bar Hiyya1070–1136 · 12th century · Academics0.61 - 30
Hasdai Crescas1340–1410 · 14th century · Academics0.59 - 31
Joseph Albo1380–1444 · 15th century · Academics0.58 - 32MKMoses Kimhi1127–1190 · 12th century · 🇫🇷 France0.56
- 33
Dunash ben Labrat920–990 · 10th century · Writers0.53 - 34JCJoseph Caspi1280–1345 · 14th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.50
- 35
Hayyim ben Joseph Vital1542–1620 · 16th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Musicians0.50 - 36MYMordecai Yoffe1530–1612 · 16th century0.49
- 37
Yehuda Alharizi1165–1225 · 13th century · Writers0.47 - 38
Shabbethai Donnoloborn 913 · 10th century · Scientists0.47 - 39
Jacob Emden1697–1776 · 18th century · 🇩🇪 Germany0.37
- 40
Eleazar ben Killir600–700 · 7th century · Writers0.36 - 41
Jonathan Eybeschutz1690–1764 · 18th century · 🇩🇪 Germany0.35 - 42JBJedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi1270–1340 · 14th century · 🇫🇷 France · Academics0.30
- 43
Nathan of Gaza1644–1680 · 17th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Writers0.29 - 44
Isaac the Blind1160–1235 · 12th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.26 - 45
Moshe Alshich1508–1593 · 16th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey0.26
- 46
Yonah Gerondi1210–1263 · 13th century · Academics0.26 - 47
Solomon Molcho1500–1532 · 16th century · Academics0.25 - 48
Immanuel the Roman1260–1328 · 13th century · Writers0.25
- 49PDProfiat Duran1350–1415 · 14th century · Musicians0.23
- 50IBIsaac ben Moses Arama1420–1494 · 15th century0.22
- 51MBMenahem ben Aaron ibn Zerah1310–1385 · 14th century · Writers0.22
- 52OBObadiah ben Jacob Sforno1470–1549 · 16th century · Doctors0.22
- 53
Joel Sirkis1561–1640 · 16th century0.21 - 54
Abraham ben Mordecai Farissol1451–1525 · 15th century · Musicians0.20 - 55
Paul the Apostle5–66 · 1st century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Writers0.19 - 56RRashbam1080–1158 · 12th century0.18
- 57
Moses Sofer1762–1839 · 18th century0.17 - 58
Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz1505–1576 · 16th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Writers0.17
- 59
Shimon bar Yochai100–160 · 2nd century0.16 - 60
Baruch Spinoza1632–1677 · 17th century · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Academics0.15 - 61
Onias III300 BC–170 BC · 1st millennium BC0.14 - 62JIJacob ibn Habib1450–1516 · 15th century0.14
- 63
Menaḥem ben Shelomoh Meʾiri1249–1306 · 13th century · 🇫🇷 France · Musicians0.14 - 64
Moses ben Joshua1300–1362 · 14th century · Academics0.13 - 65
Chaim ibn Attar1696–1743 · 18th century0.12
- 66JNJoseph Nasi1524–1579 · 16th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Writers0.11
- 67
Baal Shem Tov1698–1760 · 18th century0.11 - 68SOShemariah of Negropont1275–1352 · 14th century · Academics0.11
- 69BBBahya ben Asher1255–1340 · 13th century · Writers0.11
- 70ABAbraham ben Samuel ibn Hasdai ha-Levi1180–1240 · 13th century · Writers0.10
- 71TBTobiah ben Eliezer1080–1150 · 12th century · Actors0.10
- 72IAIsaac Albalag1300–1300 · 14th century · Academics0.09
- 73
Joseph ibn Tzaddik1075–1149 · 12th century · Academics0.09 - 74
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero1522–1570 · 16th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Actors0.08
- 75
Eliezer ben Nathan1090–1170 · 12th century · Writers0.08 - 76
Herod Archelaus23 BC–18 · 1st century · Models0.07
- 77ADAbraham de Balmes1440–1523 · 15th century · Doctors0.07
- 78
Mendele Mocher Sforim1835–1917 · 19th century · Writers0.07 - 79IIIsaac ibn Ezra1114–1158 · 12th century · 🇪🇸 Spain · Writers0.06
- 80
Jacob ben Asher1269–1343 · 14th century · Writers0.05 - 81
Tzvi Ashkenazi1660–1718 · 17th century0.05 - 82
Ben Sira300 BC–150 BC · 1st millennium BC · Writers0.05 - 83CBChananel ben Chushiel990–1053 · 11th century · Actors0.05
- 84
Shneur Zalman of Liadi1745–1812 · 18th century · Academics0.05 - 85
Benjamin of Tudela1130–1174 · 12th century · 🇪🇸 Spain · Historical Figures0.04 - 86LBLevi ben Abraham ben Hayyimborn 1245 · 13th century · Writers0.04
- 87
Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin1150–1266 · 12th century · Academics0.03 - 88
Daniel Bomberg1483–1549 · 16th century0.03
- 89BHBerechiah ha-Nakdan1200–1300 · 13th century · 🇫🇷 France · Writers0.03
- 90
Shalom Shabazi1619–1719 · 17th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Writers0.03 - 91NBNissim ben Jacob990–1062 · 11th century · Writers0.03
- 92YBYefet ben Ali950–1010 · 10th century · Actors0.03
- 93IBIsrael ben Moses Najara1555–1628 · 16th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Writers0.03
- 94
Menahem Recanati1250–1310 · 13th century · Musicians0.03 - 95
Elia del Medigo1458–1497 · 15th century · 🇹🇷 Turkey · Academics0.03 - 96ISIbn Shaprutborn 1400 · 15th century · 🇪🇸 Spain · Actors0.03
- 97
Judah ben David Hayyuj945–1000 · 10th century · Writers0.02
- 98IBIsaac ben Moses of Vienna1180–1250 · 13th century · Writers0.02
- 99
Ishtori Haparchi1280–1337 · 14th century · Scientists0.02 - 100
Nachman of Breslov1772–1810 · 19th century0.02
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
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 2
Andrew Carnegie1835–1919 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 3
John Dewey1859–1952 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades
- 4
William James1842–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 5
Brigham Young1801–1877 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 6
Charles Sanders Peirce1839–1914 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics9 decades - 7
Jane Addams1860–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 8
Franz Boas1858–1942 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 9
Thorstein Veblen1857–1929 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics11 decades - 10
Henry George1839–1897 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 11
Oliver Wendell Holmes1841–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 12
George Herbert Mead1863–1931 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics7 decades - 13
Friedrich List1789–1846 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 14
Lewis H. Morgan1818–1881 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics15 decades - 15
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain1828–1914 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 16
William Miller1782–1849 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics22 decades - 17
Othniel Charles Marsh1831–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 18
Dwight Lyman Moody1837–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 19
G. Stanley Hall1844–1924 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 20
Nicholas Murray Butler1862–1947 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 21
Charles Cooley1864–1929 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 22
Hugo Münsterberg1863–1916 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics3 decades - 23
Josiah Royce1855–1916 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 24
Theodore Parker1810–1860 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 25
William Graham Sumner1840–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics11 decades - 26
John William Draper1811–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics7 decades - 27
Cyrus Ingerson Scofield1843–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 28
Adoniram Judson1788–1850 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 29
Ernest Fenollosa1853–1908 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 30
James McKeen Cattell1860–1944 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics6 decades - 31
Robert Ezra Park1864–1944 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 32
Benjamin Peirce1809–1880 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 33
Charles William Eliot1834–1926 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 34
Mary Whiton Calkins1863–1930 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics2 decades - 35
John Bates Clark1847–1938 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics12 decades - 36
Daniel Harvey Hill1821–1889 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 37
Felix Adler1851–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics15 decades - 38
Nathaniel Bowditch1773–1838 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 39
Florence Kelley1859–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 40
Henry Schoolcraft1793–1864 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics1 decades - 41
Joseph Leidy1823–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics13 decades - 42
Clement Clarke Moore1779–1863 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 43
Spencer Fullerton Baird1823–1887 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics3 decades - 44
Samuel George Morton1799–1851 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 45
William Walker Atkinson1862–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 46
Alexander Emanuel Agassiz1835–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 47
Henry Charles Carey1793–1879 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 48
Solomon Schechter1847–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 49
Edward S. Morse1838–1925 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 50
Isaac Mayer Wise1819–1900 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 51
B. B. Warfield1851–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 52
John R. Commons1862–1945 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 53
Charles Hodge1797–1878 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 54
James Mark Baldwin1861–1934 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics6 decades - 55
George Bird Grinnell1849–1938 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured—
- 56
Orison Swett Marden1848–1924 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 57
Francis Lieber1800–1872 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 58
Florence Bascom1862–1945 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics4 decades - 59
James Mooney1861–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 60
Florian Cajori1859–1930 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics6 decades - 61
William Dwight Whitney1827–1894 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics7 decades - 62
James Clark McReynolds1862–1946 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 63
Edmund Beecher Wilson1856–1939 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 64
Orson Pratt1811–1881 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 65
Theodore M. Davis1838–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 66
Christine Ladd-Franklin1847–1930 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 67
Abbott Lawrence Lowell1856–1943 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 68
Theobald Smith1859–1934 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 69
Richard T. Ely1854–1943 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 70
Joseph Jastrow1863–1944 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 71
Eliakim Hastings Moore1862–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 72
Annie Smith Peck1850–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 73
Francis Amasa Walker1840–1897 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 74
Alice Cunningham Fletcher1838–1923 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 75
Zelia Nuttall1857–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 76
Frank Nelson Cole1861–1926 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 77
Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz1822–1907 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 78
Hubert Howe Bancroft1832–1918 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 79
William Henry Holmes1846–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 80
Frank Fetter1863–1949 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 81
Ephraim George Squier1821–1888 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 82
Charles Conrad Abbott1843–1919 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics1 decades - 83
Luigi Palma di Cesnola1832–1904 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 84
John Burgess1844–1931 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 85
Arthur E. Kennelly1861–1939 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 86
Katharine Coman1857–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured—
- 87
Albion Woodbury Small1854–1926 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 88
William Fogg Osgood1864–1943 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 89
Arnaud Henri Guyot1807–1884 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 90
Barton W. Stone1772–1844 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 91
Daniel Garrison Brinton1837–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 92
Alice Freeman Palmer1855–1902 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 93
Josiah C. Nott1804–1873 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 94
Elias Loomis1811–1889 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 95
Adoniram Judson Gordon1836–1895 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 96
Edwin Smith1822–1906 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured—
- 97
Zerah Colburn1804–1840 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 98
Alexander P. Stewart1821–1908 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 99
Richard James Horatio Gottheil1862–1936 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 100
Frank Hamilton Cushing1857–1900 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot 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.