← 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
Fyodor Dostoevsky17 decades - 2
Leo Tolstoy18 decades - 3
Alexander Pushkin21 decades - 4
Anton Chekhov15 decades - 5
Nikolai Gogol19 decades - 6
Mikhail Lermontov15 decades - 7
Taras Shevchenko13 decades - 8
Ivan Turgenev6 decades - 9
Nikolay Nekrasov13 decades - 10
Fyodor Tyutchev11 decades - 11
Ivan Krylov18 decades - 12
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin10 decades - 13
Nikolay Karamzin20 decades - 14
Alexander Ostrovsky18 decades - 15
Ivan Goncharov17 decades - 16
Nikolay Chernyshevsky11 decades - 17
Vasily Zhukovsky16 decades - 18
Abay Kunanbaiuly8 decades - 19
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy16 decades - 20
Aleksei Brusilov3 decades - 21
Nikolai Leskov13 decades - 22
Vladimir Korolenko13 decades - 23
Afanasy Fet8 decades - 24
Sophia Tolstaya10 decades - 25
Sergey Aksakov12 decades - 26
Vsevolod Garshin13 decades - 27
Vasily Klyuchevsky3 decades - 28
Yevgeny Baratynsky6 decades - 29
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia17 decades - 30
John of Kronstadt13 decades - 31
Ivan Kotliarevskyi2 decades - 32
Ahad Ha'am17 decades - 33
Aleksandr Aleksandrov11 decades - 34
Denis Davydov19 decades - 35
Kondraty Ryleyev12 decades - 36
Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak3 decades - 37
Pyotr Vyazemsky16 decades - 38
Keke Geladzenot measured- - 39
Anna Dostoyevskaya6 decades - 40
Mirza Fatali Akhundov6 decades - 41
Kosta Khetagurov9 decades - 42
Mykola Kostomarov10 decades - 43
Aleksis Kivi0 decades - 44
Sergey Solovyov14 decades - 45
Apollon Maykov16 decades - 46
Maria Konopnicka1 decades - 47
Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi5 decades - 48
Konstantin Batyushkov10 decades - 49
Alexander Bestuzhev17 decades - 50
Stefan Żeromski0 decades - 51
Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald0 decades - 52
Khachatur Abovian0 decades - 53
Lydia Koidula0 decades - 54
Gleb Uspensky16 decades - 55
Nikolay Ogarev11 decades - 56
Wilhelm Küchelbecker11 decades - 57
Fyodor Sologub0 decades - 58
Vazha-Pshavela0 decades - 59
Panteleimon Kulish1 decades - 60
Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev3 decades - 61
Alexander Serafimovich0 decades - 62
Vladimir Odoevsky12 decades - 63
Zachris Topelius0 decades - 64
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski0 decades - 65
Sergey Uvarov7 decades - 66
Faddey Bulgarin16 decades - 67
Mikhail Pogodin14 decades - 68
Dmitry Grigorovich9 decades - 69
Olha Kobylianskanot measured- - 70
Olena Pchilkanot measured- - 71
Dmitry Milyutin6 decades - 72
Innocent of Alaska0 decades - 73
Marko Vovchok1 decades - 74
Boris Stürmer1 decades - 75
Innokenty Annensky0 decades - 76
Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgensteinnot measured- - 77
Sergei Nilusnot measured- - 78
Jambyl Jabayevnot measured- - 79
Meir Dizengoffnot measured- - 80
Marko Kropyvnytskyinot measured- - 81
Władysław Syrokomlanot measured- - 82
Mykhailo Starytskyinot measured- - 83
Alexander Potebnja3 decades - 84
Nikolay Mikhaylovsky15 decades - 85
Pyotr Yershovnot measured- - 86
Philaret Drozdovnot measured- - 87
Ewelina Hańskanot measured- - 88
Simon Dubnownot measured- - 89
Pavlo Chubynskyinot measured- - 90
Panas Myrnyinot measured- - 91
Timofey Granovskynot measured- - 92
Modest Tchaikovskynot measured- - 93
Yevgeny Grebyonkanot measured- - 94
Alexander Izvolsky0 decades - 95
Semyon Nadson3 decades - 96
Mikhail Petrashevskynot measured- - 97
Aleksey Koltsov11 decades - 98
Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylinnot measured- - 99
Ivan Karpenko-Karyinot measured- - 100
Alexey Fyodorovich Orlovnot 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.