← 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
Frida Kahlo8 decades - 2
Pablo Picasso10 decades - 3
Andy Warhol6 decades - 4
Salvador Dalí10 decades - 5
Yoko Ono5 decades - 6
Eva Braun8 decades - 7
Ansel Adams9 decades - 8
Jackson Pollock7 decades - 9
Henri Matisse12 decades - 10
Marina Abramović1 decades - 11
Georgia O'Keeffe9 decades - 12
Wassily Kandinsky4 decades - 13
Stephen Hillenburg0 decades - 14
René Magritte8 decades - 15
Marc Chagall10 decades - 16
Yayoi Kusama2 decades - 17
Akira Toriyama0 decades - 18
Jean-Michel Basquiat3 decades
- 19
David Hockney5 decades - 20
Alexey Leonov6 decades - 21
Amedeo Modigliani10 decades - 22
M. C. Escher2 decades - 23
Joan Miró9 decades - 24
Piet Mondrian7 decades - 25
Jack Kirby3 decades - 26
Keith Haring4 decades - 27
Mark Rothko6 decades - 28
Marcel Duchamp10 decades - 29
Paul Klee11 decades - 30
Egon Schiele10 decades - 31
Kazimir Malevich4 decades - 32
Lee Millernot measured- - 33
Bob Rossnot measured- - 34
Max Ernst12 decades - 35
Man Ray10 decades - 36
Osamu Tezuka2 decades - 37
Agnès Varda7 decades - 38
Linda McCartneynot measured-
- 39
Nicholas Roerich7 decades - 40
Ai Weiwei2 decades - 41
Edward Hopper10 decades - 42
Friedensreich Hundertwasser5 decades - 43
Norman Rockwell10 decades - 44
Stuart Sutcliffe0 decades - 45
René Goscinny5 decades - 46
Charles M. Schulznot measured- - 47
Georges Braque11 decades - 48
Franz Marc11 decades - 49
Lucian Freud4 decades - 50
Gerhard Richter9 decades - 51
Otto Dix10 decades - 52
Roy Lichtenstein6 decades - 53
Annie Leibovitz3 decades - 54
Fernando Botero8 decades - 55
Giorgio de Chirico10 decades - 56
Laurie Anderson4 decades - 57
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner9 decades - 58
Joseph Beuys6 decades - 59
Robert Capa7 decades - 60
Käthe Kollwitz12 decades - 61
Lili Elbenot measured- - 62
Louise Bourgeoisnot measured- - 63
Henri Cartier-Bresson7 decades - 64
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenbergnot measured- - 65
Cynthia Lennonnot measured- - 66
Henry Moorenot measured- - 67
Constantin Brâncușinot measured- - 68
Niki de Saint Phallenot measured- - 69
Oskar Kokoschka11 decades - 70
Pierre Bonnard13 decades - 71
Alexander Calder9 decades - 72
Alberto Giacometti7 decades - 73
Albert Uderzo4 decades - 74
Abdulmejid IInot measured- - 75Anselm Kiefer4 decades
- 76
Steve Ditkonot measured- - 77
Willem de Kooning7 decades - 78
H. R. Gigernot measured- - 79
Jean Arp7 decades - 80
Max Beckmann11 decades - 81
Leonora Carringtonnot measured- - 82
Yves Kleinnot measured- - 83
Jean Dubuffet8 decades - 84Maurice Sendak7 decades
- 85
Jeff Koonsnot measured- - 86
Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdonnot measured- - 87
Suzanne Valadonnot measured- - 88
Juan Gris10 decades - 89
Fernand Léger11 decades - 90
Diane Arbusnot measured- - 91
Takashi Murakaminot measured- - 92
Roger Deakinsnot measured- - 93
Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicznot measured- - 94
Zdzisław Beksińskinot measured- - 95
Cindy Shermannot measured- - 96
Robert Doisneau7 decades - 97
Julian Schnabelnot measured- - 98Margaret Keanenot measured-
- 99
Evel Knievelnot measured- - 100
Jasper Johnsnot 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.