← 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
Rajneesh3 decades - 2
Arundhati Roy3 decades - 3
Sarojini Naidu11 decades - 4
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada0 decades - 5
Nana Patekarnot measured- - 6
Premchand11 decades - 7
Gulzarnot measured- - 8
Jaggi Vasudev0 decades - 9
Deepak Chopranot measured- - 10
Shakuntala Devi0 decades - 11
C. N. Annadurainot measured- - 12
Amrita Pritam3 decades - 13
Javed Akhtarnot measured- - 14
Kazi Nazrul Islam0 decades - 15
Harivansh Rai Bachchannot measured- - 16
R. K. Narayan7 decades - 17
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaynot measured- - 18
Mehmood Alinot measured- - 19
Sudha Murthynot measured- - 20
Amitav Ghoshnot measured- - 21
Khushwant Singhnot measured- - 22
Ruskin Bondnot measured- - 23
B. K. S. Iyengarnot measured- - 24
Girish Karnadnot measured- - 25
Honey Iraninot measured- - 26Ahmed Deedatnot measured-
- 27
Subramanya Bharathinot measured- - 28
Vikram Sethnot measured- - 29
Saadat Hasan Mantonot measured- - 30
Romila Thaparnot measured- - 31
S. N. Goenkanot measured- - 32
Mahasweta Devinot measured- - 33
Mahadevi Varmanot measured- - 34
Rahul Sankrityayannot measured- - 35
Pingali Venkayyanot measured- - 36Anita Desainot measured-
- 37
Ramdhari Singh Dinkarnot measured- - 38
Saroj Khannot measured- - 39Anthony de Mellonot measured-
- 40
Nayantara Sahgalnot measured- - 41
Salim Khannot measured- - 42
Abdul Sattar Edhinot measured- - 43
Mulk Raj Anandnot measured- - 44Kamala Surayyanot measured-
- 45
Nambi Narayanannot measured- - 46
Inayat Khannot measured- - 47
Kuvempu,full Name in kannada ಕುವೆಂಪು(ಕುಪ್ಪಳ್ಳಿ ವೆಂಕಟಪ್ಪ ಪುಟ್ಟಪ್ಪ),not measured- - 48
Mrinalini Sarabhainot measured- - 49
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyaynot measured- - 50
Sahir Ludhianvinot measured- - 51
Rajiv Malhotranot measured- - 52
Ramachandra Guhanot measured- - 53
Ismat Chughtainot measured- - 54
Sheelanot measured- - 55
M. S. Golwalkarnot measured- - 56
Kaifi Azminot measured- - 57
Rajmohan Gandhinot measured- - 58
Anand Bakshinot measured-
- 59
Krishna Hutheesingnot measured- - 60
Asaramnot measured- - 61
Jayachamarajendra Wadiyarnot measured- - 62
Ibn Warraqnot measured- - 63
Nadira Babbarnot measured- - 64
Arjan Singhnot measured- - 65Narendra Dabholkarnot measured-
- 66Swami Ramanot measured-
- 67
Vaikom Muhammad Basheernot measured- - 68
Subhadra Kumari Chauhannot measured- - 69
Salil Chowdhurynot measured- - 70
Nalini Bala Devinot measured- - 71Gita Mehtanot measured-
- 72
Dharamvir Bharatinot measured- - 73
Irfan Habibnot measured- - 74
Majrooh Sultanpurinot measured- - 75
Banu Mushtaqnot measured- - 76
Ramesh Chandra Majumdarnot measured- - 77Sushmita Banerjeenot measured-
- 78
Mirza Tahir Ahmadnot measured- - 79Raja Raonot measured-
- 80
Firaq Gorakhpurinot measured- - 81
Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala'not measured- - 82
Maithili Sharan Guptnot measured- - 83
Nabaneeta Dev Sennot measured- - 84
Benegal Narsing Raunot measured- - 85
Hasrat Mohaninot measured- - 86
S. L. Bhyrappanot measured- - 87
Jaishankar Prasadnot measured- - 88
Vaalinot measured- - 89Sachchidananda Vatsyayannot measured-
- 90
D. R. Bendrenot measured- - 91
Cornelia Dorabujinot measured- - 92
K. Shivaram Karanthnot measured- - 93
Hardeep Singh Purinot measured- - 94
Amole Guptenot measured- - 95
Kalki Krishnamurthynot measured- - 96
Jibanananda Dasnot measured- - 97
Purushottam Laxman Deshpandenot measured- - 98
Sooni Taraporevalanot measured- - 99
Sumitranandan Pantnot measured- - 100Nina Sibalnot 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.