← 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
Lev Yashinnot measured- - 2
Eduard Streltsovnot measured- - 3
Valentin Ivanovnot measured- - 4
Rinat Dasayevnot measured- - 5
Stanislav Cherchesovnot measured- - 6
Nikita Simonyannot measured- - 7
Fyodor Cherenkovnot measured- - 8
Valery Gazzaevnot measured- - 9
Oleg Romantsevnot measured- - 10
Anatoliy Byshovetsnot measured- - 11
Yuri Seminnot measured- - 12
Igor Nettonot measured- - 13
Viktor Ponedelniknot measured- - 14
Tofiq Bahramovnot measured- - 15
Aleksandr Bubnovnot measured- - 16
Valeri Nepomniachinot measured- - 17
Pavel Sadyrinnot measured- - 18
Vladimir Maslachenkonot measured- - 19
Konstantin Beskovnot measured- - 20Eduard Malofeyevnot measured-
- 21
Sergey Dmitrievnot measured- - 22
Gadzhi Gadzhiyevnot measured- - 23
Valery Voroninnot measured- - 24
Evgeny Lovchevnot measured- - 25Sergei Gorlukovichnot measured-
- 26
Georgi Yartsevnot measured- - 27
Vagiz Khidiyatullinnot measured- - 28
Gavriil Kachalinnot measured- - 29
Yuri Gavrilovnot measured- - 30
Aleksandr Borodyuknot measured- - 31
Igor Chislenkonot measured- - 32
Sergei Salnikovnot measured- - 33
Vitaly Daraselianot measured- - 34
Galimzyan Khusainovnot measured- - 35
Albert Shesternyovnot measured- - 36
Sergey Rodionovnot measured- - 37
Vladimir Fedotovnot measured- - 38
Nikolay Latyshevnot measured- - 39
Mikheil Meskhinot measured- - 40
Boris Paichadzenot measured- - 41
Oleg Dolmatovnot measured- - 42Sergey Andreyevnot measured-
- 43
Aleksandr Tarkhanovnot measured- - 44
Tengiz Sulakvelidzenot measured- - 45
Anzor Kavazashvilinot measured- - 46
Mikhail Yakushinnot measured- - 47
Zurab Sotkilavanot measured- - 48
Givi Nodianot measured- - 49
Vladimir Ponomaryovnot measured- - 50
Yuri Krasnozhannot measured- - 51
Anatoly Baidachnynot measured- - 52Victor Maslovnot measured-
- 53
Kakhi Asatianinot measured- - 54
Anatoli Ilyinnot measured- - 55Aleksandr Uvarovnot measured-
- 56Boris Tatushinnot measured-
- 57Sergei Fokinnot measured-
- 58
Valentin Bubukinnot measured- - 59Valeri Broshinnot measured-
- 60Aleksandr Ponomarevnot measured-
- 61
Boris Ignatyevnot measured- - 62
Nikolai Starostinnot measured- - 63Arkady Chernyshevnot measured-
- 64
Shlomo Scharfnot measured- - 65
Sergei Borovskynot measured- - 66Gennady Logofetnot measured-
- 67Anatoli Maslyonkinnot measured-
- 68Vladimir Astapovskynot measured-
- 69Mikhail Annot measured-
- 70
Grigory Fedotovnot measured- - 71Eduard Mudriknot measured-
- 72
Anatoliy Puzachnot measured- - 73Dmitri Galiaminnot measured-
- 74
Viktor Serebryanikovnot measured- - 75
Vladimir Kesarevnot measured- - 76
Rinat Bilyaletdinovnot measured- - 77
Valentin Afoninnot measured- - 78Boris Kulaginnot measured-
- 79
Yury Morozovnot measured- - 80
Vyacheslav Chanovnot measured- - 81Arkady Andreasyannot measured-
- 82Eduard Dubinskinot measured-
- 83
Viktor Tsarevnot measured- - 84
Volodymyr Kaplychnyinot measured- - 85
Givi Chokhelinot measured- - 86Nikolay Larionovnot measured-
- 87Viktor Shustikovnot measured-
- 88
Yuri Pshenichnikovnot measured- - 89Gennadi Gusarovnot measured-
- 90Viktor Anichkinnot measured-
- 91Levon Ishtoyannot measured-
- 92Anatoli Isayevnot measured-
- 93Mikhail Ogonkovnot measured-
- 94
Aleksei Paramonovnot measured- - 95Valeri Sarychevnot measured-
- 96Aleksandr Minayevnot measured-
- 97
Igor Shkvyrinnot measured- - 98Aleksandr Ivanovnot measured-
- 99Gennady Yevryuzhikhinnot measured-
- 100Boris Kuznetsovnot 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.