← 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
George Santayana9 decades - 2
Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo14 decades - 3
Jaime Balmes18 decades - 4
Nicolás Salmerón16 decades - 5
Marcelino Sanz de Sautuolanot measured- - 6
Joaquín Costanot measured- - 7
Manuel Bartolomé Cossíonot measured- - 8
Alberto Listanot measured- - 9
Álvaro Flórez Estradanot measured- - 10
Ignacio Bolívarnot measured- - 11
Eduardo Toda y Güellnot measured- - 12
Ricardo Velázquez Bosconot measured- - 13
Victoriano Guisasola y Menéndeznot measured- - 14
Buenaventura Carlos Aribaunot measured- - 15
Laureano Figuerolanot measured- - 16
Julián Sanz del Ríonot measured- - 17
Mariano Pardo de Figueroanot measured- - 18
Fidel Fita y Coloménot measured- - 19
Miguel Villanueva y Gómeznot measured- - 20
Zoel García de Galdeanonot measured- - 21
Juan Güellnot measured- - 22
Eduardo Torroja Caballenot measured- - 23
Gerónimo Boscananot measured- - 24
Telesforo Aranzadinot measured- - 25
Luis Octavio de Toledo y Zuluetanot 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.