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

  1. 1Leo Tolstoy1828-1910 · 19th century · Russia · Writers2.6
  2. 2Patriarch Nikon of Moscow1605-1681 · 17th century · Religious Figures2.2
  3. 3Peter the Great1672-1725 · 18th century · Russia · Politicians1.8
  4. 4Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow1482-1563 · 16th century · Writers1.5
  5. 5Boris Godunov1552-1605 · 16th century · Politicians1.4
  6. 6Vladimir Lenin1870-1924 · 20th century · Russia · Politicians1.4
  7. 7Nicholas I of Russia1796-1855 · 19th century · Russia · Models1.3
  8. 8Ivan the Terrible1530-1584 · 16th century · Politicians1.1
  9. 9Alexander I of Russia1777-1825 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures1.1
  10. 10Alexander II of Russia1818-1881 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.99
  11. 11Nicholas II of Russia1868-1918 · 20th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.99
  12. 12Maxim Gorky1868-1936 · 20th century · Russia · Writers0.98
  13. 13Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia1904-1918 · 20th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.97
  14. 14Ivan I of Tver1357-1425 · 14th century · Historical Figures0.92
  15. 15Alexis of Russia1629-1676 · 17th century · Historical Figures0.86
  16. 16Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia1832-1909 · 19th century · Russia · Politicians0.86
  17. 17Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia1690-1718 · 18th century · Politicians0.78
  18. 18Andrei Bely1880-1934 · 20th century · Russia · Writers0.74
  19. 19Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia1847-1909 · 19th century · Russia · Politicians0.72
  20. 20Sergo Ordzhonikidze1886-1937 · 20th century · Russia · Politicians0.72
  21. 21Ivan I Aleksandrovich, Prince of Smolenskdied 1359 · 14th century0.72
  22. 22Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia1899-1918 · 20th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.70
  23. 23Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia1827-1892 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.65
  24. 24Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia1864-1931 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.64
  25. 25Alexander III of Russia1845-1894 · 19th century · Russia · Historical Figures0.63
Show 75 more

Lived then

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

  1. 1A. P. J. Abdul Kalam1931-2015 · India · Scientists0 decades
  2. 2C. V. Raman1888-1970 · India · Scientists0 decades
  3. 3Homi Jehangir Bhabha1909-1966 · India · Scientists0 decades
  4. 4Satyendra Nath Bose1894-1974 · India · Scientists0 decades
  5. 5Kailash Satyarthiborn 1954 · India · Scientists0 decades
  6. 6Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Raoborn 1934 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  7. 7Abdul Qadeer Khan1936-2021 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  8. 8Vikram Sarabhai1919-1971 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  9. 9Meghnad Saha1893-1956 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  10. 10Ashoke Senborn 1956 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  11. 11Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis1893-1972 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  12. 12Jayant Vishnu Narlikar1938-2025 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  13. 13Asima Chatterjee1917-2006 · India · Scientists0 decades
  14. 14Shyamala Gopalan1938-2009 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  15. 15Arunachalam Murugananthamborn 1962 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  16. 16Tessy Thomasborn 1963 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  17. 17Janaki Ammal1897-1984 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  18. 18Soumya Swaminathanborn 1959 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  19. 19E. C. George Sudarshan1931-2018 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  20. 20Narinder Singh Kapany1926-2020 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  21. 21Satish Dhawan1920-2002 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  22. 22Yellapragada Subbarow1895-1948 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  23. 23Raja Ramanna1925-2004 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  24. 24Sivan Kailasavadivooborn 1957 · India · Scientistsnot measured-
  25. 25Anna Mani1918-2001 · India · Scientistsnot 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.