← 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
Napoleon22 decades - 2
Queen Victorianot measured- - 3
Edward VII13 decades - 4
Alexander I of Russia21 decades - 5
Wilhelm II, German Emperornot measured- - 6
Alexander II of Russia17 decades - 7
Franz Joseph I of Austria18 decades - 8
Alexander III of Russia16 decades - 9
Leopold II of Belgium9 decades - 10
Empress Elisabeth of Austria0 decades - 11
Empress Dowager Cixi5 decades - 12
Emperor Meiji11 decades - 13
Abdul Hamid II13 decades - 14
William I, German Emperornot measured- - 15
David Livingstone17 decades - 16
Shaka22 decades - 17
Alexander von Humboldt8 decades - 18
Ludwig II of Bavarianot measured- - 19
Mehmed VI0 decades - 20
Umberto I of Italy14 decades - 21
Leopold I of Belgiumnot measured- - 22
Ferdinand Foch7 decades - 23
Pedro II of Brazil0 decades - 24
Pedro I of Brazil0 decades - 25
Alexandra of Denmark2 decades - 26
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy12 decades - 27
Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma18 decades - 28
George I of Greece0 decades - 29
George Armstrong Custer7 decades - 30
Liliʻuokalaninot measured- - 31
Albert, Prince Consortnot measured- - 32
Alfonso XII of Spain0 decades - 33
Mahmud II14 decades - 34
Bahadur Shah Zafar6 decades - 35
Alfred Russel Wallace15 decades - 36
Frederick William III of Prussianot measured- - 37
Christian IX of Denmark16 decades - 38
Chulalongkorn13 decades - 39
Maria Feodorovna17 decades - 40
Richard Francis Burton2 decades - 41
Sacagawea9 decades - 42
Eugénie de Montijo17 decades - 43
Ranjit Singh18 decades - 44
Oscar I of Sweden0 decades - 45
Kamehameha I13 decades - 46
William IV of the United Kingdomnot measured- - 47
Otto of Greece0 decades - 48
Frederick VIII of Denmark0 decades - 49
William I of the Netherlands0 decades - 50
Princess Alice of the United Kingdomnot measured- - 51
Marie Thérèse of Francenot measured- - 52
William III of the Netherlands0 decades - 53
Amadeo I of Spainnot measured- - 54
Naser al-Din Shah Qajarnot measured- - 55
George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedlestonnot measured- - 56
Pyotr Bagration7 decades - 57
Mongkut12 decades - 58
August von Mackensen2 decades - 59
Robert Peary3 decades - 60
Carol I of Romanianot measured- - 61
Daoguang Emperor4 decades - 62
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeldnot measured- - 63
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearnnot measured- - 64
Gojong of Koreanot measured- - 65
Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhinenot measured- - 66
Charles Albert of Sardinia18 decades - 67
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar0 decades - 68
Frederick VI of Denmark0 decades - 69
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz0 decades - 70
John Franklin22 decades - 71
Oscar II of Sweden0 decades - 72
Xianfeng Emperor0 decades - 73
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger0 decades - 74
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gothanot measured- - 75
Olga Constantinovna of Russia16 decades - 76
Charles de Foucauld11 decades - 77
Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdomnot measured- - 78
Nikolay Przhevalsky9 decades - 79
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondalenot measured- - 80
George Everest2 decades - 81
Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhinenot measured- - 82
Maria Christina of the Two Siciliesnot measured- - 83
Meriwether Lewis19 decades - 84
Frederick VII of Denmark0 decades - 85
Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holsteinnot measured- - 86
Archduke Franz Karl of Austria0 decades - 87
Jean Lannes1 decades - 88
Désirée Clary14 decades - 89
Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay5 decades - 90
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearnnot measured- - 91
Gustaf V of Sweden0 decades - 92
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen2 decades - 93
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll0 decades - 94
Nicholas I of Montenegro0 decades - 95
Kit Carson18 decades - 96
Kalākaua1 decades - 97
Christian VIII of Denmark0 decades - 98
James Clark Ross18 decades - 99
Maria Leopoldina of Austria0 decades - 100
Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz5 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.