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
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 2
Andrew Carnegie1835–1919 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 3
John Dewey1859–1952 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades
- 4
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William James1842–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 5
Brigham Young1801–1877 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 6
Charles Sanders Peirce1839–1914 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics9 decades - 7
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Jane Addams1860–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 8
Franz Boas1858–1942 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 9
Thorstein Veblen1857–1929 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics11 decades - 10
Henry George1839–1897 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 11
Oliver Wendell Holmes1841–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 12
George Herbert Mead1863–1931 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics7 decades - 13
Friedrich List1789–1846 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 14
Lewis H. Morgan1818–1881 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics15 decades - 15
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain1828–1914 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 16
William Miller1782–1849 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics22 decades - 17
Othniel Charles Marsh1831–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 18
Dwight Lyman Moody1837–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 19
G. Stanley Hall1844–1924 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 20
Nicholas Murray Butler1862–1947 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 21
Charles Cooley1864–1929 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 22
Hugo Münsterberg1863–1916 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics3 decades - 23
Josiah Royce1855–1916 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics14 decades - 24
Theodore Parker1810–1860 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics18 decades - 25
William Graham Sumner1840–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics11 decades - 26
John William Draper1811–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics7 decades - 27
Cyrus Ingerson Scofield1843–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 28
Adoniram Judson1788–1850 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 29
Ernest Fenollosa1853–1908 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 30
James McKeen Cattell1860–1944 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics6 decades - 31
Robert Ezra Park1864–1944 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 32
Benjamin Peirce1809–1880 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics19 decades - 33
Charles William Eliot1834–1926 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 34
Mary Whiton Calkins1863–1930 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics2 decades - 35
John Bates Clark1847–1938 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics12 decades - 36
Daniel Harvey Hill1821–1889 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 37
Felix Adler1851–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics15 decades - 38
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Nathaniel Bowditch1773–1838 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 39
Florence Kelley1859–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 40
Henry Schoolcraft1793–1864 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics1 decades - 41
Joseph Leidy1823–1891 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics13 decades - 42
Clement Clarke Moore1779–1863 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 43
Spencer Fullerton Baird1823–1887 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics3 decades - 44
Samuel George Morton1799–1851 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 45
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William Walker Atkinson1862–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 46
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Alexander Emanuel Agassiz1835–1910 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 47
Henry Charles Carey1793–1879 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics0 decades - 48
Solomon Schechter1847–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 49
Edward S. Morse1838–1925 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 50
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Isaac Mayer Wise1819–1900 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 51
B. B. Warfield1851–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 52
John R. Commons1862–1945 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 53
Charles Hodge1797–1878 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 54
James Mark Baldwin1861–1934 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics6 decades - 55
George Bird Grinnell1849–1938 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 56
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Orison Swett Marden1848–1924 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 57
Francis Lieber1800–1872 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 58
Florence Bascom1862–1945 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics4 decades - 59
James Mooney1861–1921 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 60
Florian Cajori1859–1930 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics6 decades - 61
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William Dwight Whitney1827–1894 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics7 decades - 62
James Clark McReynolds1862–1946 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 63
Edmund Beecher Wilson1856–1939 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 64
Orson Pratt1811–1881 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 65
Theodore M. Davis1838–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 66
Christine Ladd-Franklin1847–1930 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 67
Abbott Lawrence Lowell1856–1943 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 68
Theobald Smith1859–1934 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 69
Richard T. Ely1854–1943 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 70
Joseph Jastrow1863–1944 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 71
Eliakim Hastings Moore1862–1932 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 72
Annie Smith Peck1850–1935 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 73
Francis Amasa Walker1840–1897 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 74
Alice Cunningham Fletcher1838–1923 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 75
Zelia Nuttall1857–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 76
Frank Nelson Cole1861–1926 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 77
Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz1822–1907 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 78
Hubert Howe Bancroft1832–1918 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 79
William Henry Holmes1846–1933 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 80
Frank Fetter1863–1949 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 81
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Ephraim George Squier1821–1888 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 82
Charles Conrad Abbott1843–1919 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academics1 decades - 83
Luigi Palma di Cesnola1832–1904 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 84
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John Burgess1844–1931 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 85
Arthur E. Kennelly1861–1939 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 86
Katharine Coman1857–1915 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 87
Albion Woodbury Small1854–1926 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 88
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William Fogg Osgood1864–1943 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 89
Arnaud Henri Guyot1807–1884 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 90
Barton W. Stone1772–1844 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 91
Daniel Garrison Brinton1837–1899 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 92
Alice Freeman Palmer1855–1902 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 93
Josiah C. Nott1804–1873 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 94
Elias Loomis1811–1889 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 95
Adoniram Judson Gordon1836–1895 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 96
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Edwin Smith1822–1906 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 97
Zerah Colburn1804–1840 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 98
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Alexander P. Stewart1821–1908 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 99
Richard James Horatio Gottheil1862–1936 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot measured— - 100
Frank Hamilton Cushing1857–1900 · 🇺🇸 United States · Academicsnot 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.