← 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
Alexander Dugin3 decades - 2
Maximilian Kolbe1 decades - 3
Lyudmila Putinanot measured- - 4
Lev Vygotsky3 decades - 5
Boris Berezovsky3 decades - 6
George Gurdjieff0 decades - 7
Egor Gajdar3 decades - 8
Andrey Kolmogorov4 decades - 9
Mikhail Bakhtin3 decades - 10
Elvira Nabiullinanot measured- - 11
Vladimir Arnold0 decades - 12
Vladimir Propp2 decades - 13
Alexey Millernot measured- - 14
Lev Gumilev4 decades - 15
Dmitry Likhachovnot measured- - 16
Yuri Knorozovnot measured- - 17Alexander Zinovievnot measured-
- 18
Geydar Dzhemalnot measured- - 19
Anatoly Fomenkonot measured- - 20
Pavel Florenskynot measured- - 21
Alexander Lurianot measured- - 22
Alexander Friedmannnot measured- - 23
Leonid Kantorovich3 decades - 24
Victor Khristenkonot measured- - 25
Alexey Ulyukaevnot measured- - 26
Andrey Illarionovnot measured- - 27
Galina Starovoytovanot measured- - 28
Mstislav Keldyshnot measured- - 29
Victor Sadovnichynot measured- - 30
Lev Pontryaginnot measured- - 31
Nikolai Kondratievnot measured- - 32Natalia Bekhterevanot measured-
- 33
Igor Shafarevichnot measured- - 34
Nikolai Voznesenskynot measured- - 35
Alexy I of Moscownot measured- - 36
Yevgeni Preobrazhenskynot measured- - 37
Alexander Mennot measured- - 38
Nikolai Trubetzkoynot measured- - 39
Gleb Krzhizhanovskynot measured- - 40
Mikhail Piotrovskynot measured- - 41Sergei Novikovnot measured-
- 42
Grunya Sukharevanot measured- - 43Merab Mamardashvilinot measured-
- 44
Joseph Orbelinot measured- - 45
Pavel Aleksandrovnot measured- - 46
Nikolai Bogolyubovnot measured- - 47Aleksei Losevnot measured-
- 48
Tatyana Chernigovskayanot measured- - 49
Helena Roerichnot measured- - 50
Sergey Glazyevnot measured- - 51
Viktor Glushkovnot measured- - 52
Olga Ladyzhenskayanot measured- - 53
Bronisław Piłsudskinot measured- - 54
Yakov Sinainot measured- - 55
Boris Piotrovskynot measured- - 56Aleksei N. Leontievnot measured-
- 57
Nikolai Luzinnot measured- - 58
Vladimir Yevtushenkovnot measured- - 59Evald Ilyenkovnot measured-
- 60
Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimovnot measured- - 61
Abel Aganbegyannot measured- - 62
Ruslan Tsalikovnot measured- - 63Leonid Abalkinnot measured-
- 64
Alexander Zhukovnot measured- - 65
Yuri Matiyasevichnot measured- - 66
Georgy Voronoynot measured- - 67
Boris Chertoknot measured- - 68
Mikhail Lavrentyevnot measured- - 69
Evgeny Pashukanisnot measured- - 70
Sergei Sobolevnot measured- - 71
Yury Osipovnot measured- - 72
Alexander Andreyevich Svechinnot measured- - 73
Ber Borochovnot measured- - 74Boris Rybakovnot measured-
- 75
Tatyana Kazankinanot measured- - 76
Leon Kozłowskinot measured- - 77
Igor Panarinnot measured- - 78
Igor Ansoffnot measured- - 79
Sergey Chaplyginnot measured- - 80
Andrey Tikhonovnot measured- - 81
Ivan Vinogradovnot measured- - 82
Nina L. Khrushchevanot measured- - 83
Alexander Chayanovnot measured- - 84
Nikolay Losskynot measured- - 85
Sergey Starostinnot measured- - 86Galina Dzhugashvilinot measured-
- 87Albert Razinnot measured-
- 88
Boris Delaunaynot measured- - 89
Svetlana Gannushkinanot measured- - 90Aleksandr Khinchinnot measured-
- 91
Pavel Urysohnnot measured- - 92
Fritz Noethernot measured- - 93
Olga Golodetsnot measured- - 94Elena Venttselnot measured-
- 95
Mikhail Tugan-Baranovskynot measured- - 96
Ludvig Faddeevnot measured- - 97
Andrey Korotayevnot measured- - 98
Tatiana Zaslavskayanot measured- - 99
Alexander Medvedevnot measured- - 100
Evsei Libermannot 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.