← 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
Ravi Shankar6 decades - 2
Lata Mangeshkar3 decades - 3
Asha Bhosle0 decades - 4
Kishore Kumarnot measured- - 5
Mohammed Rafi0 decades - 6
Zubin Mehta6 decades - 7
M. S. Subbulakshminot measured- - 8
S. P. Balasubrahmanyamnot measured- - 9
Jagjit Singhnot measured- - 10
Udit Narayan Jhanot measured- - 11
Bhupen Hazarikanot measured- - 12
Ilaiyaraajanot measured- - 13
Kumar Sanunot measured- - 14
Mukeshnot measured- - 15
Anuradha Paudwalnot measured- - 16
Rahul Dev Burmannot measured- - 17
K. J. Yesudasnot measured- - 18
Usha Uthupnot measured- - 19
Bismillah Khannot measured- - 20
Ram Narayannot measured- - 21
Kavita Krishnamurthynot measured- - 22
Hariharannot measured- - 23
Mahendra Kapoornot measured- - 24
Alla Rakhanot measured- - 25
Geeta Duttnot measured- - 26
Bappi Lahirinot measured- - 27
Bhimsen Joshinot measured- - 28
Bombay Jayashrinot measured- - 29
Manna Deynot measured- - 30
Sachin Dev Burmannot measured- - 31
M. M. Keeravaninot measured- - 32
Rambhadracharyanot measured- - 33
Rekha Bhardwajnot measured- - 34
Hemanta Mukhopadhyaynot measured- - 35
Mehdi Hassannot measured- - 36
Lucky Alinot measured- - 37
S. Janakinot measured- - 38
Usha Mangeshkarnot measured- - 39
Hariprasad Chaurasianot measured- - 40
Pankaj Udhasnot measured- - 41
Abhijeet Bhattacharyanot measured- - 42Vithabai Bhau Mang Narayangaonkarnot measured-
- 43
Begum Akhtarnot measured- - 44
Krishna Raja Wadiyar IVnot measured- - 45
Birju Maharajnot measured- - 46
Naushadnot measured- - 47
Bade Ghulam Ali Khannot measured- - 48
M. Balamuralikrishnanot measured- - 49
Mohit Chauhannot measured- - 50
Padma Subrahmanyamnot measured- - 51
Jasrajnot measured- - 52
Vani Jairamnot measured- - 53
P. Susheelanot measured- - 54
Teejan Bainot measured- - 55
Shivkumar Sharmanot measured- - 56
Annapurna Devinot measured- - 57
Kalpana Lajminot measured- - 58
Tapan Sinhanot measured- - 59
Ghulam Alinot measured- - 60
Sameernot measured- - 61
Rahat Indorinot measured- - 62
Suman Kalyanpurnot measured- - 63
Rajesh Roshannot measured- - 64
Amjad Ali Khannot measured- - 65
Sagarika Ghosenot measured- - 66
Ravindra Jainnot measured- - 67
Sharda Sinhanot measured- - 68
Mallikarjun Mansurnot measured- - 69
Suresh Wadkarnot measured- - 70Amar Singh Chamkilanot measured-
- 71
O. P. Nayyarnot measured- - 72
Surinder Kaurnot measured- - 73
Geetanjali Shreenot measured- - 74Hemlatanot measured-
- 75
Gangubai Hangalnot measured- - 76
Mohammed Zahur Khayyamnot measured- - 77
Falguni Pathaknot measured- - 78
Sujatha Mohannot measured- - 79
Ramasamy Vairamuthunot measured- - 80
Navneet Aditya Waibanot measured- - 81
Shamshad Begumnot measured- - 82
Amit Kumarnot measured- - 83
Trilok Gurtunot measured- - 84
Allauddin Khannot measured- - 85Kishori Amonkarnot measured-
- 86
Teesta Setalvadnot measured- - 87
Anup Jalotanot measured- - 88
M. S. Viswanathannot measured- - 89
Dipesh Chakrabartynot measured- - 90
Lakshminarayana Subramaniamnot measured- - 91
Girija Devinot measured- - 92
Ghulam Mustafa Khannot measured- - 93
Bhagwan Dasnot measured- - 94
L. Shankarnot measured- - 95
Shubha Mudgalnot measured- - 96
Parveen Sultananot measured- - 97Belli Lalithanot measured-
- 98
Hans Raj Hansnot measured- - 99
Kumar Gandharvanot measured- - 100
Devanot 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.