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. 1Steven Spielbergborn 1946 · United States · Directors5 decades
  2. 2Woody Allenborn 1935 · United States · Directors6 decades
  3. 3Alfred Hitchcock1899-1980 · United Kingdom · Directors9 decades
  4. 4Walt Disney1901-1966 · United States · Directors10 decades
  5. 5Stanley Kubrick1928-1999 · United States · Directors6 decades
  6. 6Quentin Tarantinoborn 1963 · United States · Directors3 decades
  7. 7James Cameronborn 1954 · Canada · Directors7 decades
  8. 8David Lynch1946-2025 · United States · Directors4 decades
  9. 9Martin Scorseseborn 1942 · United States · Directors5 decades
  10. 10Roman Polanskiborn 1933 · Poland · Directors6 decades
  11. 11George Lucasborn 1944 · United States · Directors6 decades
  12. 12Francis Ford Coppolaborn 1939 · United States · Directors5 decades
  13. 13Orson Welles1915-1985 · United States · Directors9 decades
  14. 14Tim Burtonborn 1958 · United States · Directors3 decades
  15. 15Hayao Miyazakiborn 1941 · Japan · Directors2 decades
  16. 16Ridley Scottborn 1937 · United Kingdom · Directors4 decades
  17. 17Akira Kurosawa1910-1998 · Japan · Directors6 decades
  18. 18Peter Jacksonborn 1961 · New Zealand · Directors6 decades
  19. 19Luc Bessonborn 1959 · France · Directors4 decades
  20. 20Rob Reiner1947-2025 · United States · Directors5 decades
  21. 21Andrei Tarkovsky1932-1986 · France · Directorsnot measured-
  22. 22Guillermo del Toroborn 1964 · Mexico · Directors3 decades
  23. 23Werner Herzogborn 1942 · Germany · Directors6 decades
  24. 24Ingmar Bergman1918-2007 · Sweden · Directors6 decades
  25. 25Buster Keaton1895-1966 · United States · Directors10 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.