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 Chinese books during the 19th century, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Zhu Xi1130-1200 · 12th century · China · Writers870
  2. 2Li Hongzhang1823-1901 · 19th century · China · Politicians149
  3. 3Zhang Zhidong1837-1909 · 19th century · Politicians86
  4. 4Zuo Zongtang1812-1885 · 19th century · China · Politicians43
  5. 5Ban Gu32-92 · 1st century · Writers40
  6. 6Ge Hong284-364 · 4th century · Academics40
  7. 7Chen Shou233-297 · 3rd century · Writers14
  8. 8Mao Zedong1893-1976 · 20th century · China · Politicians12
  9. 9Lu Xun1881-1936 · 20th century · China · Writers11

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Otto von Bismarck1815-1898 · Germany · Politicians16 decades
  2. 2Paul von Hindenburg1847-1934 · Germany · Politicians10 decades
  3. 3Frederick III, German Emperor1831-1888 · Germany · Politiciansnot measured-
  4. 4Klemens von Metternich1773-1859 · Germany · Politicians0 decades
  5. 5Pyotr Stolypin1862-1911 · Germany · Politicians6 decades
  6. 6Karl Kautsky1854-1938 · Germany · Politicians13 decades
  7. 7August Bebel1840-1913 · Germany · Politicians14 decades
  8. 8Erich von Falkenhayn1861-1922 · Germany · Politicians6 decades
  9. 9Georgy Lvov1861-1925 · Germany · Politicians2 decades
  10. 10Eduard Bernstein1850-1932 · Germany · Politicians13 decades
  11. 11Maximilian II of Bavaria1811-1864 · Germany · Politicians0 decades
  12. 12Bernhard von Bülow1849-1929 · Germany · Politicians12 decades
  13. 13Caroline of Brunswick1768-1821 · Germany · Politicians16 decades
  14. 14Princess Sophie of Bavaria1805-1872 · Germany · Politiciansnot measured-
  15. 15Leo von Caprivi1831-1899 · Germany · Politicians5 decades
  16. 16Wilhelm Marx1863-1946 · Germany · Politicians10 decades
  17. 17Jenny von Westphalen1814-1881 · Germany · Politicians9 decades
  18. 18Alfred von Tirpitz1849-1930 · Germany · Politicians8 decades
  19. 19Otto of Bavaria1848-1916 · Germany · Politiciansnot measured-
  20. 20Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg1856-1921 · Germany · Politicians6 decades
  21. 21Chlodwig, 3rd Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst1819-1901 · Germany · Politicians10 decades
  22. 22Georg von Hertling1843-1919 · Germany · Politicians11 decades
  23. 23Georg Michaelis1857-1936 · Germany · Politicians11 decades
  24. 24Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche1846-1935 · Germany · Politicians12 decades
  25. 25Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria1801-1873 · Germany · Politicians0 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.