← 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
Priyanka Chopra0 decades - 2
Shah Rukh Khan2 decades - 3
Salman Khan2 decades - 4
Aamir Khan2 decades - 5
Akshay Kumarnot measured- - 6
Deepika Padukone0 decades - 7
Hrithik Roshan0 decades - 8
Preity Zinta0 decades - 9
Anushka Sharma0 decades - 10
Saif Ali Khan0 decades - 11
Kajol2 decades - 12
Rani Mukerji0 decades - 13
Shraddha Kapoor0 decades - 14
Tamannaah Bhatianot measured- - 15
Irrfan Khan0 decades - 16
Ajay Devgn0 decades - 17
Ranbir Kapoor0 decades - 18
Ranveer Singhnot measured- - 19
Karisma Kapoor0 decades - 20
Madhuri Dixit0 decades - 21
Shahid Kapoor0 decades - 22
Abhishek Bachchan0 decades - 23
Prabhasnot measured- - 24
Freida Pinto0 decades - 25
Aishwarya Rai2 decades - 26
Kriti Sanonnot measured- - 27
Kiara Advaninot measured- - 28
Pooja Hegdenot measured- - 29
Anushka Shettynot measured- - 30
Kareena Kapoor0 decades - 31
Shilpa Shetty0 decades - 32
Shruti Haasannot measured- - 33
Samantha Ruth Prabhunot measured- - 34
Kajal Aggarwalnot measured- - 35
Tabunot measured- - 36
C. Joseph Vijaynot measured- - 37
Yami Gautamnot measured- - 38
Sonakshi Sinha0 decades - 39
Bipasha Basu0 decades - 40
Disha Pataninot measured- - 41
Sushmita Sen0 decades - 42
Kangana Ranaut0 decades - 43
Vidya Balan0 decades - 44
Raveena Tandon0 decades - 45
Lara Dutta0 decades - 46
Sushant Singh Rajput0 decades - 47
Varun Dhawan0 decades - 48
Nayanthara0 decades - 49
Juhi Chawla0 decades - 50
Rashmika Mandannanot measured- - 51
Sidharth Malhotranot measured- - 52
Allu Arjunnot measured- - 53
Trisha Krishnannot measured- - 54
John Abrahamnot measured- - 55
Genelia D'Souzanot measured- - 56
Ileana D'Cruznot measured- - 57
Ram Charannot measured- - 58
Esha Deol0 decades - 59
Tiger Shroffnot measured- - 60
Emraan Hashmi0 decades - 61
Dhanushnot measured- - 62
Akshaye Khannanot measured- - 63
Sonam Kapoor0 decades - 64
Parineeti Chopra0 decades - 65
Ananya Pandaynot measured- - 66
Mallika Sherawat0 decades - 67
Ameesha Patel0 decades - 68
Malaika Arora0 decades - 69
Janhvi Kapoornot measured- - 70
Asinnot measured- - 71
Amrita Rao0 decades - 72
R. Madhavannot measured- - 73
Mahesh Babunot measured- - 74
Sonali Bendre0 decades - 75
Shriya Saran0 decades - 76
Aditi Rao Hydarinot measured- - 77
Arjun Rampalnot measured- - 78
Jennifer Wingetnot measured- - 79
Riteish Deshmukh0 decades - 80
Dr. Puneeth Rajkumarnot measured- - 81
N. T. Rama Rao Jr.not measured- - 82
Suriyanot measured- - 83
Mouni Roynot measured- - 84
Ajith Kumarnot measured- - 85
Huma Qureshinot measured- - 86
Sara Ali Khannot measured- - 87
Nawazuddin Siddiqui0 decades - 88
Taapsee Pannunot measured- - 89
Vikramnot measured- - 90
Shivangi Joshinot measured- - 91
Urmila Matondkar0 decades - 92
Jyoti Amge0 decades - 93
Bobby Deolnot measured- - 94
Radhika Aptenot measured- - 95
Dino Moreanot measured- - 96
Vivek Oberoinot measured- - 97
Arshad Warsinot measured- - 98
Jyothikanot measured- - 99
Rakul Preet Singhnot measured- - 100
Celina Jaitlynot 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.