← Fame through time2000-2099
The 21st century
Whose names filled the books of the 21st 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 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Jesus102 - 2
Aristotle13 - 3
Plato11 - 4
Socrates6.5 - 5
Homer5.4 - 6
Cicero4.2 - 7
Augustus4.1 - 8
Johns Hopkins4.0 - 9
Virgil3.3 - 10
George Washington3.0 - 11
George W. Bush2.2 - 12
Ovid2.2 - 13
Plutarch1.9 - 14
Thomas Jefferson1.9 - 15
Cleopatra1.9 - 16
Abraham Lincoln1.9 - 17
Galen1.8 - 18
Saddam Hussein1.7 - 19
Ronald Reagan1.7 - 20
Herodotus1.6 - 21
Origen1.5 - 22
John the Baptist1.5 - 23
Bill Clinton1.5 - 24
Adam Smith1.4 - 25
Mark Twain1.4
Most read
Who people actually looked up in the 21st century, across every language edition we measure (2015-2026 only - readership is measured from July 2015).
- 1
Donald Trump336.3M - 2
Elizabeth II223.3M - 3
Cristiano Ronaldo211.6M - 4
Elon Musk207.7M - 5
Lionel Messi178.6M - 6
Vladimir Putin136.2M - 7
Joe Biden124M - 8
Freddie Mercury122.9M - 9
Jeffrey Dahmer120.3M - 10
Adolf Hitler118.7M - 11
Taylor Swift117.8M - 12
Barack Obama115.9M - 13
Michael Jackson114.4M - 14
Pablo Escobar114.4M - 15
Kamala Harris113.6M - 16
Dwayne Johnson111M - 17
Queen Victorianot measured105.6M - 18
Keanu Reeves103.4M - 19
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh102.1M - 20
Elvis Presley99.6M - 21
Tom Cruise99.4M - 22
LeBron James99.2M - 23
Jeffrey Epstein98.7M - 24
Michael Jordan98.4M - 25
Ariana Grande98M
Lived then
The most notable people whose working lives fell in the 21st century, ranked where coverage and readership agree.
- 1
Giorgia Meloni2 decades - 2
Jannik Sinnernot measured- - 3
Mario Balotelli1 decades - 4
Gianluigi Buffon2 decades - 5
Roberto Baggio3 decades - 6
Paolo Maldini3 decades - 7
Gianluigi Donnarummanot measured- - 8
Carlo Acutisnot measured- - 9
Antonio Conte5 decades - 10
Andrea Pirlo1 decades - 11
Francesco Totti2 decades - 12
Alessandro Del Piero3 decades - 13
Fabio Cannavaro2 decades - 14
Gennaro Gattuso0 decades - 15
Valentino Rossi3 decades - 16
Andrea Kimi Antonellinot measured- - 17
Filippo Inzaghi2 decades - 18
Federico Chiesanot measured- - 19
Asia Argento3 decades - 20
Ciro Immobilenot measured- - 21
Massimiliano Allegri1 decades - 22
Carla Bruni3 decades - 23
Enzo Marescanot measured- - 24
Simone Inzaghi0 decades - 25
Laura Pausini3 decades - 26
Christian Vieri3 decades - 27
Stephan El Shaarawynot measured- - 28
Joel McHale0 decades - 29
Marco Verrattinot measured- - 30
Lorenzo Insigne0 decades - 31
Moise Keannot measured- - 32
Alessandro Nesta2 decades - 33
Daniele De Rossi1 decades - 34
Yann Sommernot measured- - 35
Antonio Cassano2 decades - 36
Luca Toni2 decades - 37
Matteo Salvini2 decades - 38
Giorgio Chiellini0 decades - 39
Paolo Sorrentino2 decades - 40
Marco Materazzi2 decades - 41
Noeminot measured- - 42
Leonardo Bonucci0 decades - 43
Damiano Davidnot measured- - 44
Matteo Renzi2 decades - 45
Luca Guadagnino2 decades - 46
Nicolò Barellanot measured- - 47
Gianfranco Zola1 decades - 48
Antonio Di Natalenot measured- - 49
Alberto Gilardino0 decades - 50
Riccardo Calafiorinot measured- - 51
Alessandro Bastoninot measured- - 52
Sandro Tonalinot measured- - 53
Andrea Belottinot measured- - 54
Fabio Grosso1 decades - 55
Francesca Albanesenot measured- - 56
Alessandro Costacurta0 decades - 57
Manuel Locatellinot measured- - 58
Gianluca Zambrotta0 decades - 59
Federica Mogherini1 decades - 60
Francesco Acerbinot measured- - 61
Vincenzo Montellanot measured- - 62
Alex Zanardinot measured- - 63
Fabrizio Romanonot measured- - 64
Matteo Darmiannot measured- - 65
Federico Bernardeschinot measured- - 66
Domenico Berardinot measured- - 67
Federico Dimarconot measured- - 68
Marco Pantani3 decades - 69
Claudio Marchisio0 decades - 70
Alessia Caranot measured- - 71
Roberto De Zerbinot measured- - 72
Paolo Di Canio2 decades - 73
Fabiano Caruananot measured- - 74
Sarah Toscanonot measured- - 75
Luigi Di Maio1 decades - 76
Roberto Saviano2 decades - 77
Alberto Aquilani0 decades - 78
Santiago Giméneznot measured- - 79
Federica Brignonenot measured- - 80
Valeria Golinonot measured- - 81
Giancarlo Fisichella1 decades - 82
Ignazio Abatenot measured- - 83
Fabio Quagliarella0 decades - 84
Sabrina Salerno4 decades - 85
Matteo Berrettininot measured- - 86
Enrico Letta3 decades - 87
Jasmine Paolininot measured- - 88
Tiziano Ferro2 decades - 89
Dorothea Wierernot measured- - 90
Alessandro Florenzinot measured- - 91
Leonardo Spinazzolanot measured- - 92
Sebastian Giovinco0 decades - 93
Marco Simoncelli1 decades - 94
Flavia Pennetta0 decades - 95
Francesco Gabbani0 decades
- 96
Giacomo Raspadorinot measured- - 97
Giovanni Di Lorenzonot measured- - 98
Marcell Jacobsnot measured- - 99
Fabio Borininot measured- - 100
Mattia Perinnot 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.