← 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
Zhu Xi870 - 2
Li Hongzhang149 - 3
Zhang Zhidong86 - 4
Zuo Zongtang43 - 5
Ban Gu40 - 6
Ge Hong40 - 7Chen Shou14
- 8
Mao Zedong12 - 9
Lu Xun11
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Alfonso XII of Spain0 decades - 2
Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz5 decades - 3
Carlota Joaquina of Spain14 decades - 4
Mercedes of Orléansnot measured- - 5
Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara22 decades - 6
Infante Francisco de Paula of Spainnot measured- - 7
Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony15 decades - 8
Charles II, Duke of Parma0 decades - 9
Queen Maria Isabel of Spain20 decades - 10
Luisa Fernanda of Spain, Duchess of Montpensier2 decades - 11
Maria Isabella of Spain0 decades - 12
Maria Luisa I, Duchess of Luccanot measured- - 13
Infanta Maria Francisca of Portugal4 decades - 14
Infante Enrique of Spainnot measured- - 15
Ali Bey al-Abbasinot measured- - 16
María Teresa de Borbón, 15th Countess of Chinchónnot measured- - 17
María Manuela Kirkpatricknot measured- - 18
Princess Maria Cristina of Orléansnot measured- - 19
Robert Bontine Cunninghame Grahamnot measured- - 20
Cayetano Valdés y Flóreznot measured- - 21
María Amparo Muñoz, 1st Countess of Vista Alegrenot measured- - 22
Carlota de Godoy, 2nd Duchess of Suecanot measured- - 23
José María Narváeznot measured- - 24
Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 15th Duke of Albanot measured- - 25
Emilio Bonellinot measured-
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.