← 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
Amitabh Bachchan4 decades - 2
Sridevi4 decades - 3
Raj Kapoor5 decades - 4
Hema Malini0 decades - 5
Dharmendra7 decades - 6
Rajinikanth1 decades - 7
Jackie Shroff0 decades - 8
Anil Kapoor0 decades - 9
Rekhānot measured- - 10
Kamal Haasan0 decades - 11
Rishi Kapoor0 decades - 12
Mithun Chakraborty0 decades - 13
Madhubala2 decades - 14
Dilip Kumar7 decades - 15
Amrish Puri0 decades - 16
Sanjay Duttnot measured- - 17
Jayaram Jayalalithaanot measured- - 18
Shabana Azmi1 decades - 19
Shashi Kapoornot measured- - 20
Rajesh Khannanot measured- - 21
Nargisnot measured- - 22
Sunny Deolnot measured- - 23
Om Puri0 decades - 24
Sharmila Tagorenot measured- - 25
Anupam Khernot measured- - 26
Dimple Kapadianot measured- - 27
Naseeruddin Shahnot measured- - 28
Meena Kumarinot measured- - 29
Dev Anandnot measured- - 30
Zeenat Amannot measured- - 31
Vinod Khannanot measured- - 32
Govindanot measured- - 33
Kabir Bedinot measured- - 34
Sunil Duttnot measured- - 35
Amrita Singhnot measured- - 36Divya Bhartinot measured-
- 37
Shammi Kapoornot measured- - 38Parveen Babinot measured-
- 39
Dawood Ibrahimnot measured- - 40
Waheeda Rehmannot measured- - 41
Aruna Iraninot measured- - 42
Vyjayanthimalanot measured- - 43
Helennot measured- - 44
Mammoottynot measured- - 45
Rakhee Gulzarnot measured- - 46
Spike Milligannot measured- - 47
Jeetendranot measured- - 48
Mohanlalnot measured- - 49
Kirron Khernot measured- - 50
M. G. Ramachandrannot measured- - 51
Chiranjeevinot measured- - 52
Adil Hussainnot measured- - 53
Kader Khannot measured- - 54
Johnny Levernot measured- - 55
Sadhana Shivdasaninot measured- - 56
Mumtaznot measured- - 57
N. T. Rama Raonot measured- - 58
Prithviraj Kapoornot measured- - 59
Yaragudipati Venkata Mahalakshminot measured- - 60
Akkineni Nagarjunanot measured- - 61
Nutannot measured- - 62
Bindunot measured- - 63
Prem Chopranot measured- - 64
Farida Jalalnot measured- - 65Saeed Jaffreynot measured-
- 66
Saira Banunot measured- - 67
Paresh Rawalnot measured- - 68
Ashok Kumarnot measured- - 69
Smita Patilnot measured- - 70
Asha Parekhnot measured- - 71
Jaya Pradanot measured- - 72
Danny Denzongpanot measured- - 73
Boman Iraninot measured- - 74
Mata Amritanandamayinot measured- - 75
Babita Kapoornot measured- - 76
Neetu Singhnot measured- - 77
Sivaji Ganesannot measured- - 78
Shakti Kapoornot measured- - 79
Tanujanot measured- - 80Silk Smithanot measured-
- 81
Rati Agnihotrinot measured- - 82
Amjad Khannot measured- - 83
Manoj Kumarnot measured- - 84
Zarina Wahabnot measured- - 85
Feroz Khannot measured- - 86
Govardhan Asraninot measured- - 87
Zakir Hussainnot measured- - 88
Randhir Kapoornot measured- - 89
Sanjeev Kumarnot measured- - 90
Shatrughan Sinhanot measured- - 91
Dr. Rajkumarnot measured- - 92
Ashish Vidyarthinot measured- - 93
Poonam Dhillonnot measured- - 94
Erick Avarinot measured- - 95
Supriya Pathaknot measured- - 96
Persis Khambattanot measured- - 97
Suhasini Maniratnamnot measured- - 98Roma Dasguptanot measured-
- 99
Ratna Pathaknot measured- - 100
Sarikanot 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.