← 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 English books during the 20th century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus30 - 2
Aristotle7.1 - 3
Plato7.1 - 4
Homer7.1 - 5
Augustus4.9 - 6
Johns Hopkins4.4 - 7
Cicero4.0 - 8
George Washington3.8 - 9
Socrates3.4 - 10
Virgil3.3 - 11
Abraham Lincoln2.0 - 12
Euclid1.9 - 13
Thomas Jefferson1.6 - 14
Ovid1.6 - 15
Mark Twain1.5 - 16
Plutarch1.5 - 17
Cleopatra1.4 - 18
Theodore Roosevelt1.4 - 19
Woodrow Wilson1.4 - 20
William Henry1.3 - 21
Benjamin Franklin1.3 - 22
Herodotus1.3 - 23
Charlemagne1.3 - 24
Rembrandt1.3 - 25
Euripides1.2
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 20th century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Joseph Goebbels9 decades - 2
Hermann Göring9 decades - 3
Angela Merkel3 decades - 4
Heinrich Himmler9 decades - 5
Friedrich Merz3 decades - 6
Ursula von der Leyen2 decades - 7
Olaf Scholz2 decades - 8
Konrad Adenauer8 decades - 9
Karl Dönitz8 decades - 10
Reinhard Heydrich8 decades - 11
Frank-Walter Steinmeier3 decades - 12
Willy Brandt8 decades - 13
Helmut Schmidt9 decades - 14
Helmut Kohl6 decades - 15
Gerhard Schröder8 decades - 16
Martin Bormann8 decades - 17
Erich Honecker8 decades - 18
Joachim von Ribbentrop9 decades - 19
Franz von Papen9 decades - 20
Ernst Röhm9 decades - 21
Alfred Rosenberg10 decades - 22
Rudolf Höss7 decades - 23
Friedrich Ebert11 decades - 24
Otto von Habsburg9 decades - 25
Julius Streicher9 decades - 26
Hans Frank12 decades - 27
Ludwig Erhard8 decades - 28
Christian Wulff3 decades - 29
Joachim Gauck3 decades - 30
Kurt Georg Kiesinger7 decades - 31
Kurt von Schleicher8 decades - 32
Ernst Thälmann9 decades - 33
Gustav Stresemann11 decades - 34
Richard von Weizsäcker5 decades - 35
Magda Goebbels7 decades - 36
Joschka Fischer4 decades - 37
Baldur von Schirach9 decades - 38
Hjalmar Schacht11 decades - 39
Robert Ley9 decades - 40
Guido Westerwelle3 decades - 41
Horst Köhler5 decades - 42
Egon Krenz5 decades - 43
Wilhelm Fricknot measured- - 44
Franz Josef Straußnot measured- - 45
Wilhelm, German Crown Princenot measured- - 46
Anton Drexler7 decades - 47
Wilhelm Pieck9 decades - 48
Roland Freislernot measured- - 49
Horst Wesselnot measured- - 50
Johannes Rau5 decades - 51
Martin Schulz4 decades - 52
Wolfgang Schäuble4 decades - 53
Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigknot measured- - 54
Gregor Gysinot measured- - 55
Konstantin von Neurath7 decades - 56
Walter Scheel7 decades - 57
Fritz Sauckelnot measured- - 58
Petra Kellynot measured- - 59
Roman Herzog6 decades - 60
Hans-Dietrich Genscher6 decades - 61
Sepp Dietrichnot measured- - 62
Oskar Lafontainenot measured- - 63
Oskar Dirlewangernot measured- - 64
Pavlo Skoropadsky1 decades - 65
Heinrich Brüning9 decades - 66
Armin Laschetnot measured- - 67
Hermann Fegeleinnot measured- - 68
Erich Mielkenot measured- - 69
Karl Carstens7 decades - 70
Sigmar Gabrielnot measured- - 71
Philipp Scheidemann11 decades - 72
Klaus Wowereitnot measured- - 73
Karl Hermann Franknot measured- - 74
Heinrich Müllernot measured- - 75
Hans von Seecktnot measured- - 76
Willi Stophnot measured- - 77
Alfred Hugenbergnot measured- - 78
Boris Pistoriusnot measured- - 79
Hasso von Manteuffelnot measured- - 80
Edmund Stoibernot measured- - 81
Thomas de Maizièrenot measured- - 82
Alexander Gaulandnot measured- - 83
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbachnot measured- - 84
Johannes R. Bechernot measured- - 85
Werner von Blombergnot measured- - 86
Kurt Daluegenot measured- - 87
Lothar de Maizièrenot measured- - 88
Horst Seehofer3 decades - 89
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavarianot measured- - 90
Gudrun Burwitznot measured- - 91
Gregor Strassernot measured- - 92
Matthias Erzbergernot measured- - 93
Bodo Ramelownot measured- - 94
Norbert Lammertnot measured- - 95
Josef Terbovennot measured- - 96
Kurt Schumachernot measured- - 97
Elsa Einsteinnot measured- - 98
Emil Mauricenot measured- - 99
Louis II, Prince of Monaconot measured- - 100
Erhard Milchnot 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.