← 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
Uwe Bollnot measured- - 2
Tom Tykwer3 decades - 3
Jenny Erpenbecknot measured- - 4
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarcknot measured- - 5
Fatih Akin2 decades - 6
Baran bo Odarnot measured- - 7
Maren Adenot measured- - 8
Katharina Wagnernot measured- - 9
Dennis Ganselnot measured- - 10
Robert Schwentkenot measured- - 11Tim Krugernot measured-
- 12
Lexi Alexandernot measured- - 13
İlker Çataknot measured- - 14
Simon Verhoevennot measured- - 15
Sebastian Schippernot measured- - 16
Valeska Grisebachnot measured- - 17
Philipp Stölzlnot measured- - 18
Marc Rothemundnot measured- - 19
Jan-Ole Gersternot measured- - 20
Thor Freudenthalnot measured- - 21
Florian Gallenbergernot measured- - 22
Katja von Garniernot measured- - 23
Bora Dağtekinnot measured- - 24
Nora Fingscheidtnot measured- - 25
Thomas Ostermeiernot measured- - 26
Thomas Jahnnot measured- - 27
Hans-Christian Schmidnot measured- - 28
Matthias Glasnernot measured- - 29
Roland Schimmelpfennignot measured- - 30
Christian Alvartnot measured- - 31
Marcus H. Rosenmüllernot measured- - 32
Benjamin Heisenbergnot measured- - 33
Yasemin Şamderelinot measured- - 34
Dietrich Brüggemannnot measured- - 35
Mennan Yaponot measured- - 36
Christian Ditternot measured- - 37
Sinan Akkuşnot measured- - 38
Mascha Schilinskinot measured- - 39
Sandra Nettelbecknot measured- - 40
Burhan Qurbaninot measured- - 41
Ulrich Köhlernot measured- - 42
Andreas Schnaasnot measured- - 43
Uta Briesewitznot measured- - 44
Katrin Gebbenot measured- - 45
Christoph Hochhäuslernot measured- - 46
Olaf Ittenbachnot measured- - 47
Lars Kraumenot measured- - 48
Julia von Heinznot measured- - 49Andreas Bethmannnot measured-
- 50
Christian Schwochownot measured- - 51
Robert Thalheimnot measured- - 52Matthias Mellinghausnot measured-
- 53
Ali Samadi Ahadinot measured- - 54
Bianca Heinickenot measured- - 55
Romuald Karmakarnot measured- - 56
Veit Helmernot measured- - 57
Julian Schmidnot measured- - 58
Angelina Maccaronenot measured- - 59
Martin Weisznot measured- - 60Branwen Okpakonot measured-
- 61
Oliver Berbennot measured- - 62
Daniel Stammnot measured- - 63
Lior Shamriznot measured- - 64
Hendrik Handloegtennot measured- - 65
Niels Kurvinnot measured- - 66Marian Doranot measured-
- 67
Züli Aladağnot measured- - 68
Patrick Vollrathnot measured- - 69Michael Roeschnot measured-
- 70
Hannes Stöhrnot measured- - 71
Christian Beckernot measured- - 72
Florian Hoffmeisternot measured- - 73
Julian Greynot measured- - 74
Sebastian Bienieknot measured- - 75
Arne Birkenstocknot measured- - 76
Anne Zohra Berrachednot measured- - 77
Christian Zübertnot measured- - 78
Katja Benrathnot measured- - 79
Lilian Francknot measured- - 80
Andreas Hykadenot measured- - 81
Volker Engelnot measured- - 82Peter Scheerernot measured-
- 83Neco Çeliknot measured-
- 84
Daniel Stieglitznot measured- - 85
Sebastian Niemannnot measured- - 86
Marcel Mettelsiefennot measured- - 87
Esther Gronenbornnot measured- - 88
Aljoscha Pausenot measured- - 89
Michael Ohovennot measured- - 90
Angela Richternot measured- - 91
Peter Thorwarthnot measured- - 92
Dirk Kummernot measured- - 93
David Wnendtnot measured- - 94Tobias Kratzernot measured-
- 95Philipp Kadelbachnot measured-
- 96Nadine Jansennot measured-
- 97
Jan Haftnot measured- - 98Jochen Alexander Freydanknot measured-
- 99
Frauke Finsterwaldernot measured- - 100
Aron Lehmannnot 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.