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

  1. 1Giotto1267-1337 · 14th century · Italy · Artists5.4
  2. 2Dante Alighieri1265-1321 · 14th century · Writers5.0
  3. 3Caravaggio1571-1610 · 17th century · Italy · Artists3.8
  4. 4Leonardo da Vinci1452-1519 · 15th century · Italy · Artists3.8
  5. 5Antonio da Correggio1489-1534 · 16th century · Italy · Artists3.7
  6. 6Benedetto Croce1866-1952 · 20th century · Italy · Academics3.3
  7. 7Donato Bramante1444-1514 · 15th century · Italy · Architects2.9
  8. 8Donatello1386-1466 · 15th century · Artists2.8
  9. 9Giuseppe Mazzini1805-1872 · 19th century · Italy · Activists2.2
  10. 10Alessandro Manzoni1785-1873 · 19th century · Italy · Writers2.2
  11. 11Ugo Foscolo1778-1827 · 19th century · Writers2.1
  12. 12Pietro Perugino1448-1523 · 15th century · Italy · Artists2.0
  13. 13Tintoretto1519-1594 · 16th century · Italy · Artists1.9
  14. 14Francis of Assisi1182-1226 · 13th century · Italy · Writers1.8
  15. 15Giacomo Leopardi1798-1837 · 19th century · Italy · Writers1.8
  16. 16Benito Mussolini1883-1945 · 20th century · Italy · Politicians1.8
  17. 17Torquato Tasso1544-1595 · 16th century · Italy · Writers1.7
  18. 18Masaccio1401-1428 · 15th century · Italy · Artists1.7
  19. 19Giordano Bruno1548-1600 · 16th century · Italy · Academics1.6
  20. 20Lorenzo de' Medici1449-1492 · 15th century · Politicians1.6
  21. 21Galileo Galilei1564-1642 · 16th century · Italy · Scientists1.6
  22. 22Charles Borromeo1538-1584 · 16th century · Italy · Religious Figures1.6
  23. 23Giosuè Carducci1835-1907 · 19th century · Italy · Writers1.5
  24. 24Marco Polo1254-1324 · 13th century · Italy · Historical Figures1.4
  25. 25Giuseppe Verdi1813-1901 · 19th century · Italy · Musicians1.4
Show 75 more

Lived then

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

  1. 1Elizabeth II1926-2022 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures8 decades
  2. 2Osama bin Laden1957-2011 · Saudi Arabia · Historical Figures3 decades
  3. 3Diana, Princess of Wales1961-1997 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures0 decades
  4. 4George VI1895-1952 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures10 decades
  5. 5Mohammad Reza Pahlavi1919-1980 · Historical Figures4 decades
  6. 6George V1865-1936 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures16 decades
  7. 7Edward VIII1894-1972 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures9 decades
  8. 8Hirohito1901-1989 · Japan · Historical Figures10 decades
  9. 9Nicholas II of Russia1868-1918 · Russia · Historical Figures14 decades
  10. 10Erwin Rommel1891-1944 · Germany · Historical Figures8 decades
  11. 11Douglas MacArthur1880-1964 · United States · Historical Figures10 decades
  12. 12Ted Bundy1946-1989 · United States · Historical Figures4 decades
  13. 13Haile Selassie1892-1975 · Historical Figures0 decades
  14. 14Puyi1906-1967 · China · Historical Figures8 decades
  15. 15Lee Harvey Oswald1939-1963 · United States · Historical Figures6 decades
  16. 16Jeffrey Dahmer1960-1994 · United States · Historical Figures3 decades
  17. 17Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother1900-2002 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures6 decades
  18. 18Bhumibol Adulyadej1927-2016 · Thailand · Historical Figures5 decades
  19. 19Edmund Hillary1919-2008 · New Zealand · Historical Figures7 decades
  20. 20Harald V of Norway1937-2026 · Norway · Historical Figures0 decades
  21. 21Ibn Saud1876-1953 · Saudi Arabia · Historical Figures10 decades
  22. 22Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon1930-2002 · United Kingdom · Historical Figures0 decades
  23. 23Faisal of Saudi Arabia1906-1975 · Saudi Arabia · Historical Figures2 decades
  24. 24Wallis Simpson1896-1986 · United States · Historical Figures4 decades
  25. 25Alfonso XIII of Spain1886-1941 · Spain · Historical Figures7 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.