← 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
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam0 decades - 2
C. V. Raman0 decades - 3
Homi Jehangir Bhabha0 decades - 4
Satyendra Nath Bose0 decades - 5
Kailash Satyarthi0 decades - 6
Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Raonot measured- - 7
Abdul Qadeer Khannot measured- - 8
Vikram Sarabhainot measured- - 9
Meghnad Sahanot measured- - 10
Ashoke Sennot measured- - 11
Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobisnot measured- - 12
Jayant Vishnu Narlikarnot measured- - 13
Asima Chatterjee0 decades
- 14Shyamala Gopalannot measured-
- 15
Arunachalam Murugananthamnot measured- - 16
Tessy Thomasnot measured- - 17
Janaki Ammalnot measured- - 18
Soumya Swaminathannot measured- - 19
E. C. George Sudarshannot measured- - 20Narinder Singh Kapanynot measured-
- 21
Satish Dhawannot measured- - 22
Yellapragada Subbarownot measured- - 23
Raja Ramannanot measured- - 24
Sivan Kailasavadivoonot measured- - 25
Anna Maninot measured- - 26
E. Sreedharannot measured- - 27
Subhash Kaknot measured- - 28
H. C. Vermanot measured- - 29
Koppillil Radhakrishnannot measured- - 30G. N. Ramachandrannot measured-
- 31
Ajay Bhattnot measured- - 32
Udupi Ramachandra Raonot measured- - 33
Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menonnot measured- - 34
Darshan Ranganathannot measured- - 35
G. Madhavan Nairnot measured- - 36
Kamal Ranadivenot measured- - 37
Abhay Ashtekarnot measured- - 38
Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagarnot measured- - 39
Mylswamy Annadurainot measured- - 40
Raghunath Anant Mashelkarnot measured- - 41
Bibha Chowdhurinot measured- - 42
Yash Palnot measured- - 43
Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnannot measured- - 44
Daulat Singh Kotharinot measured- - 45
Thanu Padmanabhannot measured- - 46
Vinod Dhamnot measured- - 47
Rajagopala Chidambaramnot measured- - 48Amal Kumar Raychaudhurinot measured-
- 49
G. D. Agrawalnot measured- - 50Homi Sethnanot measured-
- 51Annapurni Subramaniamnot measured-
- 52F. C. Kohlinot measured-
- 53
Akhlaqur Rahman Kidwainot measured- - 54
Rohini Godbolenot measured- - 55Gagandeep Kangnot measured-
- 56
C. Kumar N. Patelnot measured- - 57Vainu Bappunot measured-
- 58
B. Jayant Baliganot measured- - 59
Rajeshwari Chatterjeenot measured- - 60
Obaid Siddiqinot measured- - 61
Lalji Singhnot measured- - 62
Romulus Whitakernot measured- - 63
Kavita Ramdasnot measured- - 64
Purnima Sinhanot measured- - 65
Jnan Chandra Ghoshnot measured- - 66
Anuradha T.K.not measured- - 67
M.R. Srinivasannot measured- - 68
M. P. Parameswarannot measured- - 69Kanu Gandhinot measured-
- 70
Chewang Norphelnot measured- - 71
Swami Kuvalayanandanot measured- - 72T. S. Kanakanot measured-
- 73
Sisir Kumar Mitranot measured- - 74
Sivaramakrishna Chandrasekharnot measured- - 75
Madhu Pandit Dasanot measured- - 76Ram Narain Agarwalnot measured-
- 77
Jainendra K. Jainnot measured- - 78
Kallam Anji Reddynot measured- - 79Somnath Bharadwajnot measured-
- 80
Benjamin Peary Palnot measured- - 81Muthayya Vanithanot measured-
- 82
K. VijayRaghavannot measured- - 83
Humayun Abdulalinot measured- - 84
Arvind Guptanot measured- - 85Joyanti Chutianot measured-
- 86P. K. Iyengarnot measured-
- 87Rangaswamy Srinivasannot measured-
- 88Vallampadugai Srinivasa Raghavan Arunachalamnot measured-
- 89
Arun Kumar Sharmanot measured- - 90
Archana Sharmanot measured- - 91
Maharaj Kishan Bhannot measured- - 92
Tiruppattur Venkatachalamurti Ramakrishnannot measured- - 93
Shobhana Narasimhannot measured- - 94
Debendra Mohan Bosenot measured- - 95
Sekhar Basunot measured- - 96Bhakti Yadavnot measured-
- 97
Sathyabhama Das Bijunot measured- - 98
Mary Verghesenot measured- - 99
Charusita Chakravartynot measured- - 100
K. R. Ramanathannot 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.