← 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 French books during the 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Voltaire18 - 2
Louis XIV of France11 - 3
Molière8.1 - 4
Victor Hugo7.1 - 5
Montesquieu6.4 - 6
Stendhal6.2 - 7
Jacques Chirac5.5 - 8
François Mitterrand5.5 - 9
Nicolas Sarkozy5.0 - 10
Louis XVI of France4.6 - 11
Louis XV of France4.4 - 12
Napoleon III3.4 - 13
George Sand3.2 - 14
Joan of Arc3.1 - 15
Jules Verne2.7 - 16
Georges Pompidou2.4 - 17
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor2.3 - 18
Michel Foucault2.3 - 19
François Fénelon2.2 - 20
Marcel Proust2.2 - 21
Lionel Jospin2.2 - 22
Marie Antoinette2.1 - 23
Pierre Bourdieu2.1 - 24
Roland Barthes2.0 - 25
Charles de Gaulle2.0
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
Nicole Kidman3 decades - 2
Heath Ledger2 decades - 3
Hugh Jackman2 decades - 4
Margot Robbie0 decades - 5
Chris Hemsworth1 decades - 6
Cate Blanchett2 decades - 7
Kylie Minogue3 decades - 8
Sam Worthington0 decades - 9
Julian Assange1 decades - 10
Sianot measured- - 11
Eric Bana0 decades - 12
Liam Hemsworth0 decades - 13
Isla Fisher0 decades - 14
Guy Pearce1 decades - 15
Rose Byrne0 decades - 16
Miranda Kerr0 decades - 17
Iggy Azalea0 decades - 18
Simon Bakernot measured- - 19
Oscar Piastrinot measured- - 20
Jacob Elordinot measured- - 21
Daniel Ricciardo0 decades - 22
Portia de Rossi0 decades - 23
Natalie Imbruglia0 decades - 24
Dannii Minogue0 decades - 25
Toni Collette1 decades - 26
Ange Postecoglou0 decades - 27
Yvonne Strahovski0 decades - 28
Mia Wasikowska0 decades - 29
Elizabeth Debicki0 decades - 30
Julian McMahon0 decades - 31
Claire Holtnot measured- - 32
Abbie Cornish0 decades - 33
Terence Tao0 decades - 34
Anna Torv0 decades - 35
Troye Sivan0 decades - 36
Teresa Palmernot measured- - 37
Phoebe Tonkin0 decades - 38
Rebel Wilson0 decades - 39
Emily Browning0 decades - 40
Angela Whitenot measured- - 41
Ruby Rosenot measured- - 42
Samara Weavingnot measured- - 43
Lleyton Hewitt0 decades - 44
Queen Mary of Denmarknot measured- - 45
Jai Courtney0 decades - 46
Delta Goodrem0 decades - 47
Emilie de Ravin0 decades - 48
Shane Warne2 decades - 49
Jesse Spencernot measured- - 50
Mark Webbernot measured- - 51
Joel Edgertonnot measured- - 52
Travis Fimmelnot measured- - 53
Miranda Otto0 decades - 54
Milly Alcocknot measured- - 55
Ashleigh Bartynot measured- - 56
Tim Cahillnot measured- - 57
Katherine Langford0 decades - 58
Nick Kyrgiosnot measured- - 59
Jason Clarkenot measured- - 60
Nick Vujicic0 decades - 61
Ben Mendelsohnnot measured- - 62
Rachel Griffiths0 decades - 63
Keith Urbannot measured- - 64
Harry Kewell0 decades - 65
Radha Mitchell0 decades - 66
Sarah Snooknot measured- - 67
Sophie Monk0 decades - 68
David Wenham0 decades - 69
Dichen Lachmannot measured- - 70
Scott Morrison0 decades - 71
Melissa George0 decades - 72Virginia Roberts Giuffrenot measured-
- 73
Cody Simpsonnot measured- - 74
Luke Hemsworthnot measured- - 75
Kodi Smit-McPhee0 decades - 76
Tones and Inot measured- - 77
Claudia Blacknot measured- - 78
Alex de Minaurnot measured- - 79
Rachael Taylornot measured- - 80
Alex O'Loughlinnot measured- - 81
Ian Thorpe1 decades - 82
Angourie Ricenot measured- - 83
Ben Simmonsnot measured- - 84
Cathy Freeman1 decades - 85
Isabel Lucasnot measured- - 86
Mark Schwarzer0 decades - 87
Mark Viduka0 decades - 88
Patrick Rafter0 decades - 89
Sam Kerrnot measured- - 90
Brenton Thwaitesnot measured- - 91
Adelaide Kanenot measured- - 92
Bella Heathcotenot measured- - 93
Casey Stoner0 decades - 94
The Kid Laroinot measured-
- 95
Luke Braceynot measured- - 96
Alexander Volkanovskinot measured- - 97
Jack Doohannot measured- - 98
Rhea Ripleynot measured- - 99
Jackson Irvinenot measured- - 100
Guy Sebastiannot 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.