← 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
Satyajit Ray6 decades - 2
Mira Nairnot measured- - 3
Mahesh Bhattnot measured- - 4
Yash Chopranot measured- - 5
Mani Ratnamnot measured- - 6
Sunil Shettynot measured- - 7
Mrinal Sennot measured- - 8
Sanjay Leela Bhansalinot measured- - 9
Anu Maliknot measured- - 10
Shekhar Kapurnot measured- - 11
Guru Duttnot measured- - 12
Neena Guptanot measured- - 13
Rajkumar Hiraninot measured- - 14
Bimal Roynot measured- - 15
Ram Gopal Varmanot measured- - 16
Rakesh Roshannot measured- - 17
Gulshan Kumarnot measured- - 18
Tarsem Singhnot measured- - 19
Ashutosh Gowarikernot measured- - 20
Subhash Ghainot measured- - 21
Aparna Sennot measured- - 22
Vidhu Vinod Chopranot measured- - 23
Shyam Benegalnot measured- - 24
S. Shankarnot measured- - 25
David Dhawannot measured- - 26
Hrishikesh Mukherjeenot measured- - 27
Rajkumar Santoshinot measured- - 28
K. Balachandernot measured- - 29
Nitesh Tiwarinot measured- - 30
Deepa Mehtanot measured- - 31
Boney Kapoornot measured- - 32
Ismail Merchantnot measured- - 33
Baldev Raj Chopranot measured- - 34
Ramesh Sippynot measured- - 35
Ritwik Ghataknot measured- - 36
Adoor Gopalakrishnannot measured- - 37
Prakash Jhanot measured- - 38
Chetan Anandnot measured- - 39
Rituparno Ghoshnot measured- - 40
V. Shantaramnot measured- - 41
Khwaja Ahmad Abbasnot measured- - 42
Mehboob Khannot measured- - 43
Ramanand Sagarnot measured- - 44
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehranot measured- - 45
Arundathi Nagnot measured- - 46Yash Joharnot measured-
- 47
Sooraj R. Barjatyanot measured- - 48Nasir Hussainnot measured-
- 49
Balu Mahendranot measured- - 50
Neeraj Voranot measured- - 51
Santosh Sivannot measured- - 52
Sumalatanot measured- - 53
Kasinathuni Viswanathnot measured- - 54
Mansoor Khannot measured- - 55
Basu Chatterjeenot measured- - 56
Sai Paranjpyenot measured- - 57
J. P. Duttanot measured- - 58
Govind Nihalaninot measured- - 59
Ayesha Duttnot measured- - 60
Shobha Kapoornot measured- - 61
Bharathirajanot measured- - 62
Vijay Anandnot measured- - 63
Priyadarshannot measured- - 64
Muzaffar Alinot measured- - 65
Karan Kapoornot measured- - 66Shakti Samantanot measured-
- 67
Ronnie Screwvalanot measured- - 68
Ketan Mehtanot measured- - 69
Latha Rajinikanthnot measured- - 70
Pamela Chopranot measured- - 71
Fatma Begumnot measured- - 72
Sriram Raghavannot measured- - 73
Kalpana Sarojnot measured- - 74
K. S. Ravikumarnot measured- - 75
Sohrab Modinot measured- - 76
Indra Kumarnot measured- - 77
Uday Shankarnot measured- - 78
Babu Antonynot measured- - 79
Dasari Narayana Raonot measured- - 80
Vijaya Mehtanot measured- - 81
S. A. Chandrasekharnot measured- - 82
Goutam Ghosenot measured- - 83Mani Kaulnot measured-
- 84
Ravi Chopranot measured- - 85
K. Raghavendra Raonot measured- - 86
Prakash Mehranot measured- - 87
Kundan Shahnot measured- - 88
Padma Khannanot measured- - 89
Veeru Devgannot measured- - 90
I. V. Sasinot measured- - 91
C. V. Sridharnot measured- - 92Aziz Mirzanot measured-
- 93Joy Mukherjeenot measured-
- 94Manmohan Desainot measured-
- 95
Kamal Amrohinot measured- - 96
Chandrashekhara Kambaranot measured- - 97
Girish Kasaravallinot measured- - 98
R. Parthiepannot measured- - 99
Sachin Bhowmicknot measured- - 100
Madhunot 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.