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 Spanish books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.

  1. 1John of God1495-1550 · 16th century · Portugal6.9
  2. 2Lope de Vega1562-1635 · 16th century · Spain · Writers6.6
  3. 3Francis Xavier1506-1552 · 16th century · Spain · Religious Figures5.4
  4. 4Rubén Darío1867-1916 · 20th century · Nicaragua · Writers4.5
  5. 5Simón Bolívar1783-1830 · 19th century · Spain · Politicians4.2
  6. 6Christopher Columbus1451-1506 · 15th century · Italy · Historical Figures3.5
  7. 7Andrés Bello1781-1865 · 19th century · Chile · Politicians3.5
  8. 8Porfirio Díaz1830-1915 · 19th century · Mexico · Politicians3.2
  9. 9Fidel Castro1926-2016 · 20th century · Cuba · Politicians3.0
  10. 10Hernán Cortés1485-1547 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.9
  11. 11Juan Fernández1529-1602 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.4
  12. 12John of the Cross1542-1591 · 16th century · Spain · Writers2.3
  13. 13Bartolomé Mitre1821-1906 · 19th century · Argentina · Politicians2.3
  14. 14Gonzalo Pizarro1502-1548 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures2.2
  15. 15Benito Juárez1806-1872 · 19th century · Mexico · Politicians2.2
  16. 16Antonio Machado1875-1939 · 20th century · Spain · Writers2.1
  17. 17José de San Martín1778-1850 · 19th century · Argentina · Politicians2.0
  18. 18Teresa of Ávila1515-1582 · 16th century · Spain · Writers1.9
  19. 19Francisco Pizarro1478-1541 · 16th century · Spain · Historical Figures1.8
  20. 20Miguel de Cervantes1547-1616 · 16th century · Spain · Writers1.7
  21. 21Eva Perón1919-1952 · 20th century · Argentina · Actors1.7
  22. 22Bartolomé de las Casas1484-1566 · 16th century · Spain · Writers1.7
  23. 23Miguel de Unamuno1864-1936 · 19th century · Spain · Writers1.6
  24. 24Juan Ramón Jiménez1881-1958 · 20th century · Spain · Writers1.6
  25. 25Venustiano Carranza1859-1920 · 19th century · Mexico · Politicians1.6
Show 75 more

Lived then

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

  1. 1Brigitte Bardot1934-2025 · France · Actors7 decades
  2. 2Marie Curie1867-1934 · France · Scientists4 decades
  3. 3Charles de Gaulle1890-1970 · France · Politicians9 decades
  4. 4Nicolas Sarkozyborn 1955 · France · Politicians5 decades
  5. 5Albert Camus1913-1960 · France · Academics8 decades
  6. 6Alain Delon1935-2024 · France · Actors6 decades
  7. 7Édith Piaf1915-1963 · France · Musicians6 decades
  8. 8Jacques Chirac1932-2019 · France · Politicians8 decades
  9. 9Coco Chanel1883-1971 · France · Designers6 decades
  10. 10François Mitterrand1916-1996 · France · Politicians8 decades
  11. 11Jean-Paul Sartre1905-1980 · France · Academics9 decades
  12. 12François Hollandeborn 1954 · France · Politicians4 decades
  13. 13Simone de Beauvoir1908-1986 · France · Academics8 decades
  14. 14Charles Aznavour1924-2018 · France · Musicians8 decades
  15. 15Michel Foucault1926-1984 · France · Academics8 decades
  16. 16Gérard Depardieuborn 1948 · France · Actors5 decades
  17. 17Luc Bessonborn 1959 · France · Directors4 decades
  18. 18Jean-Marie Le Pen1928-2025 · France · Politicians8 decades
  19. 19Isabelle Adjaniborn 1955 · France · Actors5 decades
  20. 20Andrei Tarkovsky1932-1986 · France · Directorsnot measured-
  21. 21Marcel Proust1871-1922 · France · Writers12 decades
  22. 22Antoine de Saint-Exupéry1900-1944 · France · Writers9 decades
  23. 23Catherine Deneuveborn 1943 · France · Actors6 decades
  24. 24Michel Platiniborn 1955 · France · Footballers5 decades
  25. 25Arsène Wengerborn 1949 · France · Footballers2 decades
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.