← 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
Benito Mussolini11 decades - 2
Silvio Berlusconi6 decades - 3
Sergio Mattarella4 decades - 4
Sonia Gandhi3 decades - 5
Aldo Moro8 decades - 6
Giorgio Napolitano8 decades - 7
Giulio Andreotti8 decades - 8
Giuseppe Contenot measured- - 9
Romano Prodi6 decades - 10
Bettino Craxi6 decades - 11
Francesco Cossiga6 decades - 12
Alcide De Gasperi8 decades - 13
Pietro Badoglio11 decades - 14
Clara Petacci8 decades - 15
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi4 decades - 16
Mengistu Haile Mariam5 decades - 17
Antonio Tajani3 decades - 18
Galeazzo Ciano9 decades - 19
Paolo Gentiloni2 decades - 20
Palmiro Togliatti8 decades - 21
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro6 decades - 22
Enrico Berlinguernot measured- - 23
Giovanni Leone12 decades - 24
Massimo D'Alema5 decades - 25
Giuliano Amato6 decades - 26
Alessandra Mussolininot measured- - 27
Giuseppe Saragat8 decades - 28
Umberto Bossinot measured- - 29
Amintore Fanfani9 decades - 30
Italo Balbonot measured- - 31
David Sassoli1 decades - 32
Gianfranco Fininot measured- - 33
Pier Luigi Bersaninot measured- - 34
Giacomo Matteottinot measured- - 35
Luigi Einaudi13 decades - 36
Rodolfo Grazianinot measured- - 37
Guido Crosettonot measured- - 38
Ivanoe Bonominot measured- - 39
Walter Veltroninot measured- - 40
Dino Grandinot measured- - 41
Emilio De Bononot measured- - 42
Ignazio Benito Maria La Russanot measured- - 43
Alessandro Nannininot measured- - 44
Giorgio Almirantenot measured- - 45
Liliana Segrenot measured- - 46
Altiero Spinellinot measured- - 47
Umberto Nobilenot measured- - 48
Enrico de Nicola11 decades - 49
Edda Mussolininot measured- - 50
Emma Boninonot measured- - 51
Marco Pannellanot measured- - 52
Antonio Segni11 decades - 53
Carlo Alberto dalla Chiesanot measured- - 54
Pier Ferdinando Casininot measured- - 55
Giovanni Gronchi8 decades - 56
Junio Valerio Borghesenot measured- - 57
Adriano Gallianinot measured- - 58
Giovanni Spadolininot measured- - 59
Amadeo Bordiganot measured- - 60
Giovanni Messenot measured- - 61
Daniela Santanchènot measured- - 62
Gianni Alemannonot measured- - 63
Antonio Di Pietronot measured- - 64
Dario Franceschininot measured- - 65
Ciriaco De Mitanot measured- - 66
Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aostanot measured- - 67
Pietro Nenninot measured- - 68
Prince Alfonso de Bourbon, Duke of Cádiznot measured- - 69
Nello Musumecinot measured- - 70
Letizia Morattinot measured- - 71
Roberto Farinaccinot measured- - 72
Italo Gariboldinot measured- - 73
Fausto Bertinottinot measured- - 74
Arnaldo Forlaninot measured- - 75
Vittorio Sgarbinot measured- - 76
Mariano Rumornot measured- - 77
Ugo Cavalleronot measured- - 78
Giovanni Gorianot measured- - 79
Ferruccio Parrinot measured- - 80
Rosy Bindinot measured- - 81
Nilde Iottinot measured- - 82
Susanna Agnellinot measured- - 83
Alessandro Pavolininot measured- - 84
Tina Anselminot measured- - 85
Achille Staracenot measured- - 86
Mario Scelbanot measured- - 87
Luigi Longonot measured- - 88
Alejandro Giammatteinot measured- - 89
Calogero Vizzininot measured- - 90
Franco Frattininot measured- - 91
Francesco Rutellinot measured- - 92
Emilio Colombonot measured- - 93
Pietro Grassonot measured- - 94
Cesare Maria De Vecchinot measured- - 95
Prince Aly Khannot measured- - 96
Giuseppe Valditaranot measured- - 97
Roberto Maroninot measured- - 98
Vincenzo De Lucanot measured- - 99
Giulio Tremontinot measured- - 100
Renato Schifaninot 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.