← 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
Karan Johar0 decades - 2
Farah Khan0 decades - 3
Farhan Akhtar0 decades - 4
S. S. Rajamoulinot measured- - 5
Prabhu Devanot measured- - 6
Aditya Chopranot measured- - 7
Anurag Kashyapnot measured- - 8
Ekta Kapoornot measured- - 9
Gauri Khannot measured- - 10
Uday Chopranot measured- - 11
Zoya Akhtarnot measured- - 12
Kiran Raonot measured- - 13
Meghna Gulzarnot measured- - 14
Revathinot measured- - 15
Rohit Shettynot measured- - 16
S. J. Suryanot measured- - 17
Aishwarya R. Dhanushnot measured- - 18
Kabir Khannot measured- - 19
Imtiaz Alinot measured- - 20
Puri Jagannadhnot measured- - 21
Lokesh Kanagarajnot measured- - 22
Vikram Bhattnot measured- - 23
Vishal Bhardwajnot measured- - 24
Mohit Surinot measured- - 25
Soundarya Rajinikanthnot measured- - 26
Atleenot measured- - 27
Siddharth Anandnot measured- - 28
Rhea Kapoornot measured- - 29
Aditya Dharnot measured- - 30
A. R. Murugadossnot measured- - 31
Gautham Vasudev Menonnot measured- - 32
Nikhil Advaninot measured- - 33
Rishab Shettynot measured- - 34
Vikas Bahlnot measured- - 35
Kunal Kohlinot measured- - 36
Reema Kagtinot measured- - 37
Rojanot measured- - 38
Siddharth Roy Kapurnot measured- - 39
Ayan Mukerjinot measured- - 40
Anurag Basunot measured- - 41
Anees Bazmeenot measured- - 42
Sajid Nadiadwalanot measured- - 43
Anubhav Sinhanot measured- - 44
Sujoy Ghoshnot measured- - 45
Tanuja Chandranot measured- - 46
Gauri Shindenot measured- - 47
Prashanth Neelnot measured- - 48
Sajid Khannot measured- - 49
Payal Kapadianot measured- - 50
Sukumarnot measured- - 51
Ashwiny Iyer Tiwarinot measured- - 52
Karthik Subbarajnot measured- - 53
Ganesh Acharyanot measured- - 54
Tigmanshu Dhulianot measured- - 55
R. Balkinot measured- - 56
Deepshikanot measured- - 57
Basil Josephnot measured- - 58
Balanot measured- - 59
Dibakar Banerjeenot measured- - 60
Saima Rainanot measured- - 61
Bhushan Kumarnot measured- - 62
Abhishek Kapoornot measured- - 63
Venkat Prabhunot measured- - 64
Nishikant Kamatnot measured- - 65
Ali Abbas Zafarnot measured- - 66
Vetrimaarannot measured- - 67
Aamir Bashirnot measured- - 68
Nagesh Kukunoornot measured- - 69
Sudha Kongara Prasadnot measured- - 70
Madhur Bhandarkarnot measured- - 71
Shonali Bosenot measured- - 72Vikram Kumarnot measured-
- 73
K. V. Anandnot measured- - 74
Gopichandnot measured- - 75
Om Rautnot measured- - 76
Shimit Aminnot measured- - 77
Anjali Menonnot measured- - 78
Manav Kaulnot measured- - 79
Ramnot measured- - 80
Vivek Agnihotrinot measured- - 81
Sandeep Vanganot measured- - 82
Vijay Krishna Acharyanot measured- - 83
K. Selvaraghavannot measured- - 84
Shirish Kundernot measured- - 85
Dharmesh Darshannot measured- - 86
Aanand L. Rainot measured- - 87
Nagraj Manjulenot measured- - 88
Harish Shankarnot measured- - 89
Onirnot measured- - 90
Manjot Singhnot measured- - 91
Hansal Mehtanot measured- - 92Abbasnot measured-
- 93
Harish Kumarnot measured- - 94
Vipul Amrutlal Shahnot measured- - 95
Chaitanya Tamhanenot measured- - 96
Shoojit Sircarnot measured- - 97
Vishakha Singhnot measured- - 98
Alvira Khan Agnihotrinot measured- - 99
Darshan Kumarnot measured- - 100
Abhishek Chaubeynot 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.