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
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Per million words
- 1
Zhu Xi1130–1200 · 12th century · 🇨🇳 China · Writers870 - 2
Li Hongzhang1823–1901 · 19th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians149 - 3
Zhang Zhidong1837–1909 · 19th century · Politicians86 - 4
Zuo Zongtang1812–1885 · 19th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians43 - 5
Ban Gu32–92 · 1st century · Writers40 - 6
Ge Hong284–364 · 4th century · Academics40 - 7CSChen Shou233–297 · 3rd century · Writers14
- 8
Mao Zedong1893–1976 · 20th century · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians12 - 9
Lu 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.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019Echoed
- 1
José María de Pereda1833–1906 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalists16 decades - 2
Sofia Casanova1861–1958 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 3
Luis González-Brabo y López de Arjona1811–1871 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 4
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José Sánchez Guerra1859–1935 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 5
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Modesto Lafuente1806–1866 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 6
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Manuel Bretón de los Herreros1796–1873 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 7
Graciano López Jaena1856–1896 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 8
Luis José Sartorius, 1st Count of San Luis1815–1871 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 9
Ricardo Mella1861–1925 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 10
Joaquín Dicenta1862–1917 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 11
Vital Aza Álvarez-Buylla1851–1912 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 12
Wenceslao Retana1862–1924 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 13
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Patricio de la Escosura1807–1878 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 14
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Eusebio Blasco1844–1903 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 15
José Selgas1822–1882 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 16
Ramón Verea1833–1899 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 17
Valentín Lamas Carvajal1849–1906 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 18
José Julián Acosta1825–1891 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 19
Ramón Nocedal Romea1842–1907 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 20
José Ortega Munilla1856–1922 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 21
Ángeles López de Ayala1856–1926 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 22
Serafin Baroja1840–1912 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 23
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Antonio Aparisi Guijarro1815–1872 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 24
Ángel Fernández de los Ríos1821–1880 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 25
Manuel Cañete1822–1891 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 26
José María Orense1803–1880 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 27
Josep Feliu i Codina1845–1897 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 28
José Luis Albareda y Sezde1828–1897 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 29
José Francos Rodríguez1862–1931 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 30
Rafael Farga i Pellicer1844–1890 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 31
Nilo Fabra1843–1903 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 32
Miguel Ramos Carrión1848–1915 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 33
Eugenio Sellés1842–1926 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 34
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Pompeu Gener i Babot1846–1920 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 35
Manuel Ossorio y Bernard1839–1904 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 36
José María Posada1817–1886 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 37
José María Díaz1813–1888 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 38
Ramón del Valle1823–1890 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 39
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Jacinto Octavio Picón1852–1923 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 40
Roberto Castrovido Sanz1864–1941 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 41RLRamón López Soler1799–1836 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured—
- 42GGGenaro García-Alas y Ureña1844–1918 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured—
- 43
Teodosio Vesteiro Torres1847–1876 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 44
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Jerónimo Bécker1857–1925 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 45EAEduardo Asquerino1826–1881 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured—
- 46
Robert Robert i Casacuberta1827–1873 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 47
Pablo de Jérica1781–1841 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 48
Teodoro Baró1842–1916 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot measured— - 49
Pere Antoni Torres i Jordi1844–1901 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Journalistsnot 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.