← 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
José María de Pereda16 decades - 2
Luis González-Brabo y López de Arjonanot measured- - 3
Sofia Casanovanot measured- - 4
José Sánchez Guerranot measured- - 5
Modesto Lafuentenot measured- - 6
Graciano López Jaenanot measured- - 7
Manuel Bretón de los Herrerosnot measured- - 8
Ricardo Mellanot measured- - 9
Joaquín Dicentanot measured- - 10
Luis José Sartorius, 1st Count of San Luisnot measured- - 11
Vital Aza Álvarez-Buyllanot measured- - 12
Wenceslao Retananot measured- - 13
Ramón Nocedal Romeanot measured- - 14
Eusebio Blasconot measured- - 15
Patricio de la Escosuranot measured- - 16
José Selgasnot measured- - 17
Ramón Vereanot measured- - 18
José Julián Acostanot measured- - 19
Serafin Barojanot measured- - 20
José Ortega Munillanot measured- - 21
Ángeles López de Ayalanot measured- - 22
Ángel Fernández de los Ríosnot measured- - 23
Valentín Lamas Carvajalnot measured- - 24
Antonio Aparisi Guijarronot measured- - 25
Manuel Cañetenot 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.