← 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
Carlos Saldanhanot measured- - 2
Kleber Mendonça Filhonot measured- - 3
José Padilhanot measured- - 4
Karim Aïnouznot measured- - 5
Bruna Ferraznot measured- - 6
Andrucha Waddingtonnot measured- - 7Kátia Lundnot measured-
- 8Patrícia Araújonot measured-
- 9
Ana Rezendenot measured- - 10
Petra Costanot measured- - 11
Afonso Poyartnot measured- - 12
Txai Suruínot measured- - 13
Daniel Ribeironot measured- - 14
Alê Abreunot measured- - 15
Heitor Dhalianot measured- - 16
Laís Bodanzkynot measured- - 17
Marina Personnot measured- - 18
Julia Bachanot measured- - 19
Juliana Rojasnot measured- - 20
Daniel Rezendenot measured- - 21
Sérgio Machadonot measured- - 22
Iara Leenot measured- - 23Camilla de Castronot measured-
- 24
Guilherme Webernot measured- - 25
Gabriel Mascaronot measured- - 26
Tatiana Issanot measured- - 27
Amora Mautnernot measured- - 28
Marco Dutranot measured- - 29Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevichnot measured-
- 30
Sandra Kogutnot measured- - 31
Pedro Vasconcellosnot measured- - 32
Rodrigo Teixeiranot measured- - 33
Fernando Grostein Andradenot measured- - 34
Mauro Mendonça Filhonot measured- - 35
Paula Lavignenot measured- - 36
Eryk Rochanot measured- - 37
Vinícius Coimbranot measured- - 38
Anita Rocha da Silveiranot measured- - 39
Vicente Amorimnot measured- - 40
Juliano Dornellesnot measured- - 41
Carolina Jabornot measured- - 42
Marcio Reolonnot measured- - 43
Daniela Duartenot measured- - 44
Yasmin Thaynanot measured- - 45
Allan Debertonnot measured- - 46
Estevão Ciavattanot measured- - 47Pedro Amorimnot measured-
- 48Otavio Julianonot 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.