← 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
Yoshinori Ohsumi0 decades - 2
Shuji Nakamura0 decades - 3
Kensō Soainot measured- - 4
Leo Esaki0 decades - 5
Koichi Tanaka0 decades - 6
Shin'ichirō Tomonaga0 decades - 7
Soichiro Honda0 decades - 8Tsutomu Yamaguchinot measured-
- 9
Masatoshi Koshiba0 decades - 10
Takaaki Kajita0 decades - 11
Akira Yoshino0 decades - 12
Hiroshi Amanonot measured- - 13
Isamu Akasaki0 decades - 14
Hideki Yukawa0 decades - 15
Toshihide Maskawa0 decades - 16
Kenichi Fukui0 decades - 17
Akira Suzuki0 decades - 18
Akio Moritanot measured- - 19
Satoshi Ōmura0 decades - 20
Ryōji Noyorinot measured- - 21
Susumu Tonegawa0 decades - 22
Susumu Kitagawanot measured- - 23
Jiro Horikoshinot measured- - 24
Sakichi Toyodanot measured- - 25
Mamoru Mohrinot measured- - 26
Ken Kutaraginot measured- - 27Gunpei Yokoinot measured-
- 28
Makoto Kobayashi0 decades - 29
Koichi Wakatanot measured- - 30
Taiichi Ohnonot measured- - 31
Hideki Shirakawa0 decades - 32
Osamu Shimomura0 decades - 33
Tsuneko Okazakinot measured- - 34
Yoshiro Nakamatsunot measured- - 35
Yoshio Nishinanot measured- - 36Kaoru Ishikawanot measured-
- 37
Shōichirō Toyodanot measured- - 38
Masao Yoshidanot measured- - 39
Minakata Kumagusunot measured- - 40
Nagaoka Hantarōnot measured- - 41
Takao Doinot measured- - 42
Hideo Itokawanot measured- - 43
Akira Miyawakinot measured- - 44Shigeo Shingonot measured-
- 45Reiji Okazakinot measured-
- 46
Masatoshi Shimanot measured- - 47
J. J. Sakurainot measured- - 48
Satoshi Kirishimanot measured- - 49
Katsuko Saruhashinot measured- - 50
Hidetsugu Yaginot measured- - 51
Moriteru Ueshibanot measured- - 52Kazuhiko Nishinot measured-
- 53
Yuzuru Hiraganot measured- - 54
Genichi Taguchinot measured- - 55
Sumio Iijimanot measured- - 56Kōzō Iizukanot measured-
- 57
Kenjirō Takayanaginot measured- - 58
Ukichiro Nakayanot measured- - 59
Jun-ichi Nishizawanot measured- - 60
Ōtani Kōzuinot measured- - 61
Torahiko Teradanot measured- - 62
Tokuji Hayakawanot measured- - 63
Masahiro Haranot measured- - 64
Kōtarō Hondanot measured- - 65Hiroshi Fushidanot measured-
- 66
Hiroshi Masuokanot measured- - 67
Hiroshi Ishiguronot measured- - 68
Akito Arimanot measured- - 69
Shoichi Sakatanot measured- - 70Genyo Takedanot measured-
- 71
Michio Suzukinot measured- - 72
Chushiro Hayashinot measured- - 73Noritake Takaharanot measured-
- 74
Akira Fujishimanot measured- - 75Tomoji Tanabenot measured-
- 76
Sahachiro Hatanot measured- - 77
Chika Kurodanot measured- - 78Shoichiro Irimajirinot measured-
- 79
Tomohiro Nishikadonot measured- - 80
Hitoshi Murayamanot measured- - 81
Seiichi Miyakenot measured- - 82
Takenoshin Nakainot measured- - 83Ryogo Kubonot measured-
- 84
Jun Murainot measured- - 85
Shintaro Udanot measured- - 86
Yasui Kononot measured- - 87Akira Haraguchinot measured-
- 88Shunpei Yamazakinot measured-
- 89Hideo Shimanot measured-
- 90
Hisashi Kimuranot measured- - 91Yuji Hyakutakenot measured-
- 92
Motonori Matuyamanot measured- - 93
Yoji Totsukanot measured- - 94
Ken Moginot measured- - 95
Chūhachi Ninomiyanot measured- - 96
Hisayoshi Takedanot measured- - 97
Teruaki Mukaiyamanot measured- - 98Kaoru Ikeyanot measured-
- 99
Michiyo Tsujimuranot measured- - 100
Hisako Koyamanot 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.