← 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 English books during the 19th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus94 - 2
Homer15 - 3
Cicero13 - 4
Augustus13 - 5
Plato10 - 6
Virgil9.6 - 7
Aristotle9.4 - 8
Socrates6.4 - 9
Herodotus6.2 - 10
Plutarch5.6 - 11
Ovid4.2 - 12
Strabo4.1 - 13
Charlemagne3.9 - 14
Demosthenes3.8 - 15
Lord Byron3.6 - 16
Livy3.4 - 17
Origen3.1 - 18
Cleopatra3.0 - 19
Xenophon3.0 - 20
Walter Scott3.0 - 21
Tertullian2.7 - 22
James II, Count of Urgell2.6 - 23
Robert Peel2.6 - 24
Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor2.6 - 25
Pericles2.5
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 19th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Napoleon III21 decades - 2
Philippe Pétain8 decades - 3
Georges Clemenceau13 decades - 4
Joachim Murat21 decades - 5
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon8 decades - 6
Adolphe Thiers15 decades - 7
Jean Jaurès13 decades - 8
Joseph Bonaparte22 decades - 9
Louis Bonaparte22 decades - 10
Patrice de MacMahon0 decades - 11
Raymond Poincaré13 decades - 12
Michel Ney18 decades - 13
Félix Faure18 decades - 14
Sadi Carnotnot measured- - 15
Aristide Briand12 decades - 16
Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême2 decades - 17
Paul Doumer13 decades - 18
Jérôme Bonaparte22 decades - 19
Ferdinand de Lesseps18 decades - 20
Léon Gambetta15 decades - 21
Georges-Eugène Haussmann0 decades - 22
Paul Deschanel14 decades - 23
Arthur de Gobineau12 decades - 24
Henri, Count of Chambord0 decades - 25
Eugène de Beauharnais21 decades - 26
Alexandre Millerand11 decades - 27
Jules Grévy15 decades - 28
Jules Ferry16 decades - 29
Gaston Doumergue13 decades - 30
Louis-Nicolas Davout0 decades - 31
Claude Bernard21 decades - 32
Armand Fallières12 decades - 33
Émile Loubet11 decades - 34
Lucien Bonaparte22 decades - 35
Pauline Bonaparte20 decades - 36
Jean-de-Dieu Soultnot measured- - 37
Jean Casimir-Perier0 decades - 38
Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicilynot measured- - 39
Napoléon, Prince Imperialnot measured- - 40
Albert I, Prince of Monaco18 decades - 41
Charles Lucien Bonaparte0 decades - 42
Prince Philippe, Count of Parisnot measured- - 43
Auguste de Marmontnot measured- - 44
Elisa Bonaparte4 decades - 45
Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry1 decades - 46
Louis Barthou13 decades - 47
Georges Ernest Boulanger0 decades - 48
Prince Napoléon-Jérôme, Prince Napoléon0 decades - 49
Louis-Eugène Cavaignac16 decades - 50
Léon Bourgeois14 decades - 51
Nicolas Oudinot0 decades - 52
Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy0 decades - 53
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire10 decades - 54
Louis Jules Trochu0 decades - 55
Joseph Gallieni0 decades - 56
Georges Picquart0 decades - 57
Louis-Hubert Lyautey7 decades - 58
Ferdinand Buisson13 decades - 59
Louis-Gabriel Suchet0 decades - 60
François Achille Bazaine0 decades - 61
Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghiennot measured- - 62
Jacques MacDonaldnot measured- - 63
Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau2 decades - 64
Eugène Pottier12 decades - 65
Alexandre Colonna-Walewski0 decades - 66
Charles III, Prince of Monaco0 decades - 67
Austen Henry Layard3 decades - 68
Thomas Robert Bugeaud0 decades - 69
Émile Combes12 decades - 70
Joseph Caillaux13 decades - 71
Prince Jules de Polignac, 3rd Duke of Polignacnot measured- - 72
Victor, Prince Napoléon4 decades - 73
Jacques Charles Dupont de l'Eurenot measured- - 74
Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieunot measured- - 75
Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise0 decades - 76
René Viviani13 decades - 77
Victor Schoelcher18 decades - 78
Jean Maximilien Lamarquenot measured- - 79
Charles de Freycinet8 decades - 80
Jules Armand Dufaure2 decades - 81
Jacques Laffitte20 decades - 82
Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumalenot measured- - 83
François d'Orléans, Prince of Joinvillenot measured- - 84
Étienne Maurice Gérardnot measured- - 85
Albert, 4th duc de Broglie18 decades - 86
Édouard René Lefèbvre de Laboulayenot measured- - 87
Émile Ollivier16 decades - 88
Victor de Broglie22 decades - 89
Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthèsnot measured- - 90
Jules Simon18 decades - 91
Alexandre Ribot13 decades - 92
Eliza Lynch7 decades - 93
Maine de Biran22 decades - 94
Jenny Longuetnot measured- - 95
Casimir Perier20 decades - 96
Élie, duc Decazes0 decades - 97
Charles de Montalembert17 decades - 98
Théophile Delcassé12 decades - 99
Marcellin Marbot0 decades - 100
François Étienne de Kellermann0 decades
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.