← 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 Russian books during the 21st century, whenever they lived.
- 1
Patriarch Nikon of Moscow3.5 - 2
Peter the Great3.0 - 3
Nicholas II of Russia2.6 - 4
Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow2.5 - 5
Vladimir Putin2.2 - 6
Nicholas I of Russia2.1 - 7
Alexander I of Russia2.0 - 8
Alexis of Russia1.9 - 9
Ivan the Terrible1.9 - 10
Leo Tolstoy1.9 - 11
Maria Feodorovna1.5 - 12
Alexander II of Russia1.5 - 13
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia1.5 - 14
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia1.4 - 15
Alexander III of Russia1.4 - 16
Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia1.3 - 17
Boris Godunov1.3 - 18
Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia1.1 - 19
Elizabeth of Russia1.0 - 20
Andrei Bely1.0 - 21
Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia1.0 - 22
Ivan I of Tver0.99 - 23
Paul I of Russia0.96 - 24
Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia0.92 - 25
Ivan I Aleksandrovich, Prince of Smolensk0.88
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 - 6Vladimir 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
Justin Trudeau1 decades - 2
Emmanuel Macronnot measured- - 3
Giorgia Meloni2 decades - 4
Zohran Mamdaninot measured- - 5
Mark Carney1 decades - 6
Andy Burnhamnot measured- - 7
Marco Rubio1 decades - 8
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez0 decades - 9
Bashar al-Assad2 decades - 10
Rishi Sunak0 decades - 11
Mojtaba Khamenei0 decades - 12
Mohammed bin Salman Al Saudnot measured- - 13
Nayib Bukelenot measured- - 14
Ahmed al-Sharaanot measured- - 15
Dmitry Medvedev3 decades - 16
Tulsi Gabbard0 decades - 17
María Corina Machado1 decades - 18
Volodymyr Zelensky0 decades - 19
Pedro Sáncheznot measured- - 20
Alexei Navalny1 decades - 21
Liz Truss0 decades - 22
Marine Le Pen2 decades - 23
Alice Weidel1 decades - 24
Ramzan Kadyrov2 decades - 25
Pete Hegseth0 decades - 26
Gavin Newsom2 decades - 27
Péter Magyarnot measured- - 28
J. D. Vancenot measured- - 29
David Cameron4 decades - 30
Ilhan Omar0 decades - 31
Ted Cruz1 decades - 32
Delcy Rodrigueznot measured- - 33
Mark Rutte0 decades - 34
Kaja Kallasnot measured- - 35
Pete Buttigieg0 decades - 36
Annalena Baerbock0 decades - 37
Cory Booker1 decades - 38
Keiko Fujimori2 decades - 39
Sadiq Khannot measured- - 40
Mikhail Mishustin0 decades - 41
Rahul Gandhi1 decades - 42
George Weah0 decades - 43
Petro Poroshenko2 decades - 44
Roman Abramovich2 decades - 45
Jacinda Ardern0 decades - 46
Gabriel Attal0 decades - 47
Mike Johnsonnot measured- - 48
Gabriel Boric0 decades - 49
Karol Nawrockinot measured- - 50
Tamim bin Hamad Al0 decades - 51
Sébastien Lecornu0 decades - 52
Kristi Noem0 decades - 53
José Antonio Kast0 decades - 54Hibatullah Akhundzadanot measured-
- 55
Édouard Philippe1 decades - 56
Nikki Haley1 decades - 57
Sahra Wagenknecht3 decades - 58
Kemi Badenochnot measured- - 59
Daniel Noboanot measured- - 60
Sanna Marinnot measured- - 61
Mette Frederiksen0 decades - 62
Ron DeSantis0 decades - 63
Rob Jettennot measured- - 64
Alexander Stubb0 decades - 65
Nikol Pashinyannot measured- - 66
Jordan Bardellanot measured- - 67
Ed Miliband1 decades - 68
Aleksandar Vučić0 decades - 69
Enrique Peña Nieto2 decades - 70
Nicușor Dannot measured- - 71
Naftali Bennettnot measured- - 72
Alexander Karelin2 decades - 73
Gabby Giffords0 decades - 74
Andrzej Duda0 decades - 75
Victoria, Crown Princess of Swedennot measured- - 76
Robert Habeck0 decades - 77Kim Jong-nam0 decades
- 78
Paul Ryan3 decades - 79
Dmitry Peskov1 decades - 80
Serdar Berdimuhamedownot measured- - 81
Juan Guaidónot measured- - 82
Kim Yo-jong0 decades - 83
Maria Zakharova0 decades - 84
Mikheil Saakashvili2 decades - 85
Jen Psaki0 decades - 86
Matteo Salvini2 decades - 87
Andry Rajoelina0 decades - 88
Rachida Dati2 decades - 89
Kash Patelnot measured- - 90
Pam Bondinot measured- - 91
Kim Jong-un1 decades - 92
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi2 decades - 93
Kevin McCarthynot measured- - 94
Sebastian Kurznot measured- - 95
Lawrence Wongnot measured- - 96
Angela Rayner0 decades - 97
Ekrem İmamoğlunot measured- - 98
Igor Girkinnot measured- - 99
Itamar Ben-Gvirnot measured- - 100
Michelle Kwannot 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.