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
Robert Owen1771–1858 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Founders22 decades - 2
J. Bruce Ismay1862–1937 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Founders1 decades - 3
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Thomas Cook1808–1892 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Founders22 decades - 4
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Charles Boycott1832–1897 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Founders0 decades - 5
Samuel Insull1859–1938 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 6
Thomas Burberry1835–1926 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 7
Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted1853–1927 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 8
John Henry Davies1864–1927 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 9
Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar1864–1930 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 10
Silas Aaron Hardoon1851–1931 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 11
Paul Chater1846–1926 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 12
Hilda Hewlett1864–1943 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 13
William Beardmore, 1st Baron Invernairn1856–1936 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot measured— - 14
George Herbert Strutt1854–1928 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Foundersnot 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.