← 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
Alice Weidel1 decades - 2
Annalena Baerbock0 decades - 3
Sahra Wagenknecht3 decades - 4
Robert Habeck0 decades - 5
Markus Söder2 decades - 6
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg1 decades - 7
Frauke Petry1 decades - 8
Julia Klöcknernot measured-
- 9
Christian Lindner2 decades - 10
Lars Klingbeilnot measured- - 11
Jens Spahnnot measured- - 12
Tino Chrupallanot measured- - 13
Bärbel Basnot measured- - 14
Björn Höckenot measured- - 15
Manuela Schwesignot measured- - 16
Heiko Maas2 decades - 17
Manfred Webernot measured- - 18
Alexander Dobrindtnot measured- - 19
Heidi Reichinneknot measured- - 20
Christine Lambrechtnot measured- - 21
Katja Kippingnot measured- - 22
Katrin Göring-Eckardtnot measured- - 23
Franziska Giffeynot measured- - 24
Katarina Barleynot measured- - 25
Kai Wegnernot measured- - 26
Philipp Röslernot measured- - 27
Beatrix von Storchnot measured- - 28
Ulrich Siegmundnot measured- - 29
Hubertus Heilnot measured- - 30
Elif Eralpnot measured- - 31
Norbert Röttgennot measured- - 32
Andrea Nahlesnot measured- - 33
Michael Kretschmernot measured- - 34
Terry Reintkenot measured- - 35
Daniel Günthernot measured- - 36
Patrick Sensburgnot measured- - 37
Ska Kellernot measured- - 38
Andreas Scheuernot measured- - 39
Katherina Reichenot measured- - 40
Maximilian Krahnot measured- - 41
Ricarda Langnot measured- - 42
Volker Wissingnot measured- - 43
Amira Mohamed Alinot measured- - 44
Felix Redanot measured- - 45
Hendrik Wüstnot measured- - 46
Thomas Kemmerichnot measured- - 47
Nancy Faesernot measured- - 48
Dorothee Bärnot measured- - 49
Reem Alabali Radovannot measured- - 50
Anke Rehlingernot measured- - 51
David McAllisternot measured- - 52
Alexander Schweitzernot measured- - 53
Hubert Aiwangernot measured- - 54
Anton Hofreiternot measured- - 55
Kristina Schrödernot measured- - 56
Kevin Kühnertnot measured- - 57
Nina Warkennot measured- - 58
Franziska Brantnernot measured- - 59
Anne Spiegelnot measured- - 60
Holger Apfelnot measured- - 61
Boris Rheinnot measured- - 62
Wolfgang Schmidtnot measured- - 63
Janine Wisslernot measured- - 64
Peter Tschentschernot measured- - 65
Karin Priennot measured- - 66
Sven Schulzenot measured- - 67
Thorsten Freinot measured- - 68
Andreas Bovenschultenot measured- - 69
Klara Geywitznot measured- - 70
Steffi Lemkenot measured- - 71
Christoph Ahlhausnot measured- - 72
Peter Taubernot measured- - 73
Marco Buschmannnot measured- - 74
Damian Boeselagernot measured- - 75
Boris Palmernot measured- - 76
Sevim Dağdelennot measured- - 77
Svenja Schulzenot measured- - 78
Ralph Brinkhausnot measured- - 79
Paul Ziemiaknot measured- - 80Oliver Janichnot measured-
- 81
Stefanie Hubignot measured- - 82
Mario Voigtnot measured- - 83
Jörg Kukiesnot measured- - 84
Sergey Lagodinskynot measured- - 85
Lisa Pausnot measured- - 86
Philipp Mißfeldernot measured- - 87
Olaf Liesnot measured- - 88
Tessa Ganserernot measured- - 89
Helge Braunnot measured- - 90
Bettina Stark-Watzingernot measured- - 91
Stefan Mappusnot measured- - 92
Silvana Koch-Mehrinnot measured- - 93
Dominic Fritznot measured- - 94
Patrick Schniedernot measured- - 95
Alois Rainernot measured- - 96
Michael Rothnot measured- - 97
Yasmin Fahiminot measured- - 98
Carsten Schneidernot measured- - 99
Marco Bülownot measured- - 100
Nico Semsrottnot 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.