← 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 Chinese books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Mao Zedong275 - 2
Lu Xun60 - 3
Liu Shaoqi58 - 4
Zhou Enlai55 - 5
Lin Biao40 - 6
Deng Xiaoping34 - 7
Sun Yat-sen31 - 8
Jiang Zemin13 - 9
Confucius12 - 10
Jiang Qing10 - 11
Zhu De9.6 - 12
Cao Xueqin5.9 - 13
Li Peng5.4 - 14
Lee Teng-hui5.2 - 15
Yuan Shikai5.0 - 16
Laozi4.7 - 17
Lin Yutang4.6 - 18
Soong Ching-ling4.4 - 19Gao Ming3.4
- 20
Zhuang Zhou2.8 - 21
Li Bai2.3 - 22
Kang Youwei2.3 - 23
Li Hongzhang2.0 - 24Wang Chong1.9
- 25
Wang Anshi1.7
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Keanu Reeves3 decades - 2
James Cameron7 decades - 3
Christopher Plummer7 decades - 4
Donald Sutherland7 decades - 5
Leonard Cohen5 decades - 6
Mike Myers3 decades - 7
Neil Young5 decades - 8
William Shatner5 decades - 9
Jordan Peterson0 decades - 10
Bryan Adams3 decades - 11
Margaret Atwood5 decades - 12
Catherine O'Hara0 decades - 13
Leslie Nielsen5 decades - 14
Pierre Trudeau6 decades - 15
Wayne Gretzky4 decades - 16
Joni Mitchell5 decades - 17
Stephen Harper2 decades - 18
David Cronenberg4 decades - 19
Dan Aykroyd4 decades - 20
Mary Pickford11 decades - 21
Martin Short3 decades - 22
Anne Carsonnot measured- - 23
Kim Cattrall1 decades - 24
Margot Kidder3 decades - 25
Jean Chrétien8 decades - 26
Mylène Farmer3 decades - 27
Alice Munro5 decades - 28
Norm Macdonaldnot measured- - 29
John Candynot measured- - 30
Marshall McLuhan7 decades - 31
Glenn Ford8 decades - 32
Lucy Maud Montgomery3 decades - 33
Peter Cullennot measured- - 34
Norma Shearer10 decades - 35
Brian Mulroney4 decades - 36
Yvonne De Carlonot measured- - 37
Terry Foxnot measured- - 38
Bret Hartnot measured- - 39
Rick Moranisnot measured- - 40
Gordon Lightfootnot measured- - 41
Alan Thickenot measured- - 42
Howard Shore1 decades - 43
David Fosternot measured- - 44
Ivan Reitmannot measured- - 45
James Randi3 decades - 46
John Kenneth Galbraith7 decades - 47
Kim Campbell3 decades - 48
Gordie Howenot measured- - 49
Phan Thị Kim Phúcnot measured- - 50
Frederick Banting4 decades - 51
Glenn Gould7 decades - 52
Gilles Villeneuvenot measured- - 53
Lester B. Pearson8 decades - 54
Victor Garbernot measured- - 55
Eugene Levynot measured- - 56
Diana Krallnot measured- - 57
Raymond Burrnot measured- - 58
Albert Bandura6 decades - 59
Paul Martinnot measured- - 60
Oscar Peterson7 decades - 61
Bruce Greenwoodnot measured- - 62
Michael Ironsidenot measured- - 63
Yann Martel1 decades - 64
Li Ka-shingnot measured- - 65
Alex Trebeknot measured- - 66
Neil Peartnot measured- - 67
Sid Meiernot measured- - 68
Norman Jewisonnot measured- - 69
Donna Strickland0 decades - 70
William Lyon Mackenzie Kingnot measured- - 71
Geneviève Bujoldnot measured- - 72
k.d. langnot measured- - 73
Roddy Pipernot measured- - 74
Loreena McKennittnot measured- - 75
Julie Payette0 decades - 76
David Suzukinot measured- - 77
Owen Hartnot measured- - 78
Nia Vardalosnot measured- - 79
Mary Simonnot measured- - 80
Geddy Leenot measured- - 81
Chris Hadfieldnot measured- - 82
Yoshua Bengionot measured- - 83
John Turnernot measured- - 84
James Doohannot measured- - 85
Brian Kernighannot measured- - 86
Robin Sharmanot measured- - 87
Joe Clarknot measured- - 88
Elias Koteasnot measured- - 89
Erving Goffman6 decades - 90
Fay Wraynot measured- - 91Shulamith Firestonenot measured-
- 92
Louis Slotinnot measured- - 93
Caroline Rheanot measured- - 94
Anne Murraynot measured- - 95
James LaBrienot measured- - 96
Raymond Masseynot measured- - 97
Robbie Robertsonnot measured- - 98
Alex Lifesonnot measured- - 99
Brian Tracynot measured- - 100
Henry Czernynot measured-
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.