← 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
Virat Kohli1 decades - 2
Sachin Tendulkar3 decades - 3
Mahendra Singh Dhoni0 decades - 4
The Great Khali0 decades - 5
Neeraj Chopra0 decades - 6
Pusarla Venkata Sindhunot measured- - 7
Rohit Sharmanot measured- - 8
Mary Kom0 decades - 9
Smriti Mandhananot measured- - 10
Mithali Rajnot measured- - 11
Narain Karthikeyan0 decades - 12
Harmanpreet Kaurnot measured- - 13
Manu Bhakernot measured- - 14
Virender Sehwagnot measured- - 15
Vinesh Phogatnot measured- - 16
Yuvraj Singhnot measured- - 17
Lovlina Borgohainnot measured- - 18
Rahul Dravidnot measured- - 19
Saina Nehwal0 decades - 20
Ravindra Jadejanot measured- - 21
KL Rahulnot measured- - 22
Jasprit Bumrahnot measured- - 23
Hardik Pandyanot measured- - 24
Jwala Guttanot measured- - 25
Sourav Gangulynot measured- - 26
Shubman Gillnot measured- - 27
Bhuvneshwar Kumarnot measured- - 28
Harbhajan Singhnot measured- - 29
Zaheer Khannot measured- - 30
Karun Chandhoknot measured- - 31
Abhinav Bindranot measured- - 32
Anil Kumblenot measured- - 33
Shreyas Iyernot measured- - 34
Ajinkya Rahanenot measured- - 35
Ravichandran Ashwinnot measured- - 36
Shikhar Dhawannot measured- - 37
Dinesh Karthiknot measured- - 38
Mohammed Shaminot measured- - 39
Vinod Kamblinot measured- - 40
Vijender Singhnot measured- - 41
VVS Laxmannot measured- - 42
Rishabh Pantnot measured- - 43
Deepti Sharmanot measured- - 44
Suresh Rainanot measured- - 45
Lakshya Sennot measured- - 46
Harmanpreet Singhnot measured- - 47
Sanju Samsonnot measured- - 48
K. Srikanthnot measured- - 49
Ishan Kishannot measured- - 50
Javagal Srinathnot measured- - 51
Mohammed Sirajnot measured- - 52
Cheteshwar Pujaranot measured- - 53
Ashwini Ponnappanot measured- - 54
Vaibhav Suryavanshinot measured- - 55
Shafali Vermanot measured- - 56
Kuldeep Yadavnot measured- - 57
Irfan Pathannot measured- - 58
Yusuf Pathannot measured- - 59
Dutee Chandnot measured- - 60
Chirag Shettynot measured- - 61
Jemimah Rodriguesnot measured- - 62
Ajay Jadejanot measured- - 63
Suryakumar Yadavnot measured- - 64
Pullela Gopichandnot measured- - 65
Robin Uthappanot measured- - 66
Axar Patelnot measured- - 67
Anju Bobby Georgenot measured- - 68
Ishant Sharmanot measured- - 69
Hima Dasnot measured- - 70
Satwiksairaj Rankireddynot measured- - 71
Yuzvendra Chahalnot measured- - 72
Yashasvi Jaiswalnot measured- - 73
Jhulan Goswaminot measured- - 74
Parupalli Kashyapnot measured- - 75
Ajit Agarkarnot measured- - 76
Nikhat Zareennot measured- - 77
Deepa Maliknot measured- - 78
Amit Mishranot measured- - 79
Sreejesh Ravindrannot measured- - 80
Mahaveer Raghunathannot measured- - 81
Gayatri Gopichandnot measured- - 82
Anjum Chopranot measured- - 83
Manpreet Singhnot measured- - 84
Ashish Nehranot measured- - 85
S. Sreesanthnot measured- - 86
Tejashwi Yadavnot measured- - 87
Umesh Yadavnot measured- - 88
Parthiv Patelnot measured- - 89
Armaan Ebrahimnot measured- - 90
Arshdeep Singhnot measured- - 91
Gagan Narangnot measured- - 92
Murali Vijaynot measured- - 93
Swapnil Kusalenot measured- - 94
H. S. Prannoynot measured- - 95
Elavenil Valarivannot measured- - 96Mohammad Kaifnot measured-
- 97
Unnati Hoodanot measured- - 98Rinku Singhnot measured-
- 99
Ruturaj Gaikwadnot measured- - 100
Manish Pandeynot 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.