215,950 profiles ranked

← Fame through time1900-1999

The 20th century

Whose names filled the books of the 20th 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 20th century, whenever they lived.

  1. 1Jesus5 BC-30 · 1st century · Religious Figures30
  2. 2Aristotle384 BC-322 BC · 1st millennium BC · Academics7.1
  3. 3Plato428 BC-348 BC · 1st millennium BC · Academics7.1
  4. 4Homer900 BC-800 BC · 1st millennium BC · Writers7.1
  5. 5Augustus63 BC-14 · 1st millennium BC · Italy · Politicians4.9
  6. 6Johns Hopkins1795-1873 · 19th century · United States · Founders4.4
  7. 7Cicero106 BC-43 BC · 1st millennium BC · Italy · Politicians4.0
  8. 8George Washington1732-1799 · 18th century · United States · Politicians3.8
  9. 9Socrates470 BC-399 BC · 1st millennium BC · Brazil · Academics3.4
  10. 10Virgil70 BC-19 BC · 1st millennium BC · Italy · Writers3.3
  11. 11Abraham Lincoln1809-1865 · 19th century · United States · Politicians2.0
  12. 12Euclid333 BC-285 BC · 1st millennium BC · Academics1.9
  13. 13Thomas Jefferson1743-1826 · 18th century · United States · Politicians1.6
  14. 14Ovid43 BC-17 · 1st millennium BC · Italy · Writers1.6
  15. 15Mark Twain1835-1910 · 19th century · United States · Writers1.5
  16. 16Plutarch40-120 · 1st century · Academics1.5
  17. 17Cleopatra69 BC-30 BC · 1st millennium BC · Egypt · Historical Figures1.4
  18. 18Theodore Roosevelt1858-1919 · 19th century · United States · Politicians1.4
  19. 19Woodrow Wilson1856-1924 · 19th century · United States · Politicians1.4
  20. 20William Henry1774-1836 · 19th century · Scientists1.3
  21. 21Benjamin Franklin1706-1790 · 18th century · United States · Politicians1.3
  22. 22Herodotus484 BC-425 BC · 1st millennium BC · Turkey · Writers1.3
  23. 23Charlemagne748-814 · 8th century · Historical Figures1.3
  24. 24Rembrandt1606-1669 · 17th century · Netherlands · Artists1.3
  25. 25Euripides480 BC-406 BC · 1st millennium BC · Writers1.2
Show 75 more

Lived then

The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.

  1. 1Tasuku Honjoborn 1942 · Japan · Academics0 decades
  2. 2D. T. Suzuki1870-1966 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  3. 3Heisuke Hironaka1931-2026 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  4. 4Kitarō Nishida1870-1945 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  5. 5Shigefumi Moriborn 1951 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  6. 6Shūmei Ōkawa1886-1957 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  7. 7Kunihiko Kodaira1915-1997 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  8. 8Masanobu Fukuoka1913-2008 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  9. 9Chizuko Uenoborn 1948 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  10. 10Ümit Özdağborn 1961 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  11. 11Kunio Yanagita1875-1962 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  12. 12Kiyoshi Itō1915-2008 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  13. 13Yutaka Taniyama1927-1958 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  14. 14Kenichi Ohmaeborn 1943 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  15. 15Gorō Shimura1930-2019 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  16. 16Haruhiko Kurodaborn 1944 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  17. 17Masaki Kashiwaraborn 1947 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  18. 18Shinichi Fujimuraborn 1950 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  19. 19George Ohsawa1893-1966 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  20. 20Tsunesaburō Makiguchi1871-1944 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  21. 21Kuki Shūzō1888-1941 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  22. 22Motoo Kimura1924-1994 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  23. 23Yanagi Sōetsu1889-1961 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  24. 24Shizuo Kakutani1911-2004 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
  25. 25Mikio Sato1928-2023 · Japan · Academicsnot measured-
Show 75 more

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.