Claim profile
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 Chinese books during the 19th century — whenever they lived.

In books written inEnglish18,114German3,599French3,347Italian1,787Spanish1,162Russian325Hebrew105Chinese9
  1. 1Zhu XiZhu Xi1130–1200 · 12th century · 🇨🇳 China · Writers870
  2. 2Li HongzhangLi Hongzhang1823–1901 · 19th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians149
  3. 3Zhang ZhidongZhang Zhidong1837–1909 · 19th century · Politicians86
  4. 4Zuo ZongtangZuo Zongtang1812–1885 · 19th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians43
  5. 5Ban GuBan Gu32–92 · 1st century · Writers40
  6. 6Ge HongGe Hong284–364 · 4th century · Academics40
  7. 7CSChen Shou233–297 · 3rd century · Writers14
  8. 8Mao ZedongMao Zedong1893–1976 · 20th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians12
  9. 9Lu XunLu Xun1881–1936 · 20th century · 🇨🇳 China · Writers11

Lived then

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

CountryAll🇺🇸 United States🇫🇷 France🇩🇪 Germany🇬🇧 United Kingdom🇮🇹 Italy🇪🇸 Spain🇯🇵 Japan🇦🇹 Austria🇹🇷 Turkey🇸🇪 Sweden
FieldAllPoliticiansWritersHistorical FiguresScientistsAcademicsArtistsMusiciansDoctorsFoundersJournalists
  1. 1Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Verdi1813–1901 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians18 decades
  2. 2Giacomo PucciniGiacomo Puccini1858–1924 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians15 decades
  3. 3Gioachino RossiniGioachino Rossini1792–1868 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians20 decades
  4. 4Niccolò PaganiniNiccolò Paganini1782–1840 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians18 decades
  5. 5Gaetano DonizettiGaetano Donizetti1797–1848 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians19 decades
  6. 6Vincenzo BelliniVincenzo Bellini1801–1835 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians22 decades
  7. 7Pietro MascagniPietro Mascagni1863–1945 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians13 decades
  8. 8Cosima WagnerCosima Wagner1837–1930 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians13 decades
  9. 9Ruggero LeoncavalloRuggero Leoncavallo1857–1919 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians13 decades
  10. 10Maria Theresa of Naples and SicilyMaria Theresa of Naples and Sicily1772–1807 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  11. 11Amilcare PonchielliAmilcare Ponchielli1834–1886 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians15 decades
  12. 12Karl MozartKarl Mozart1784–1858 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians0 decades
  13. 13Alessandro MoreschiAlessandro Moreschi1858–1922 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians3 decades
  14. 14Saverio MercadanteSaverio Mercadante1795–1870 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians20 decades
  15. 15Alfredo CatalaniAlfredo Catalani1854–1893 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musicians13 decades
  16. 16Gemma BellincioniGemma Bellincioni1864–1950 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  17. 17Alice BarbiAlice Barbi1858–1948 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  18. 18Franco LeoniFranco Leoni1864–1949 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  19. 19Giovanni TebaldiniGiovanni Tebaldini1864–1952 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  20. 20Zoraide Amedea Mei FignerZoraide Amedea Mei Figner1859–1952 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  21. 21CDCamillo de Nardis1857–1951 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot measured—
  22. 22CYCarlo Yvon1798–1854 · 🇮🇹 Italy · Musiciansnot 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.