← 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
Rahul Gandhi1 decades - 2
Yogi Adityanathnot measured- - 3
Priyanka Vadra0 decades - 4
Smriti Iraninot measured- - 5
Arvind Kejriwal1 decades - 6
Tshering Tobgaynot measured- - 7
Omar Abdullahnot measured- - 8
Akhilesh Yadavnot measured- - 9
Devendra Fadnavisnot measured- - 10
Varun Gandhinot measured- - 11
Suvendu Adhikarinot measured- - 12
Udhayanidhi Stalinnot measured- - 13
Jyotiraditya Scindianot measured- - 14
Mahua Moitranot measured- - 15
Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddynot measured- - 16
Khushbu Sundarnot measured- - 17
Asaduddin Owaisinot measured- - 18
Gautam Gambhirnot measured- - 19
Yasin Maliknot measured- - 20
Senthamizhan Seemannot measured- - 21
Atishi Marlenanot measured- - 22
Bhagwant Mannnot measured- - 23
Dimple Yadavnot measured- - 24
Rajyavardhan Rathorenot measured- - 25
Chirag Paswannot measured- - 26
Rekha Guptanot measured- - 27
Lobsang Sangaynot measured- - 28
Pema Khandunot measured- - 29
Himanta Biswa Sarmanot measured- - 30
Kiren Rijijunot measured- - 31
Harsimrat Kaur Badalnot measured- - 32
Hemant Sorennot measured- - 33
Manoj Tiwarinot measured- - 34
Deepika Chikhalianot measured- - 35
Anurag Thakurnot measured- - 36
Prem Singh Tamangnot measured- - 37
Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of Rajpiplanot measured- - 38
Bhajan Lal Sharmanot measured- - 39
Pramod Sawantnot measured- - 40
Kanimozhi Karunanidhinot measured- - 41
Priya Duttnot measured- - 42
Anupriya Patelnot measured- - 43
Revanth Reddynot measured- - 44
Supriya Sulenot measured- - 45
Pushkar Singh Dhaminot measured- - 46
Conrad Sangmanot measured- - 47
Dharmendra Pradhannot measured- - 48Nupur Sharmanot measured-
- 49
Tejasvi Suryanot measured- - 50
Mohan Yadavnot measured- - 51
Pargat Singhnot measured- - 52
Alka Lambanot measured- - 53
Biplab Kumar Debnot measured- - 54
Raghav Chadhanot measured- - 55
Mohan Charan Majhinot measured- - 56
Agatha Sangmanot measured- - 57Iqra Choudharynot measured-
- 58
Priyank Chaturvedinot measured- - 59
Akbaruddin Owaisinot measured- - 60
Jai Ram Thakurnot measured- - 61
Sambit Patranot measured- - 62
Samrat Choudharynot measured- - 63
Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyarnot measured- - 64
Aditya Thackeraynot measured- - 65
Raj Thackeraynot measured- - 66
Meenakshi Lekhinot measured- - 67
Sachin Pilotnot measured- - 68
Shobha Karandlajenot measured- - 69
Manish Sisodianot measured- - 70
Arjun Mundanot measured- - 71
Gaurav Gogoinot measured- - 72
Nitin Nabinnot measured- - 73
Kumar Vishwasnot measured- - 74
Rima Dasnot measured- - 75
Dayanidhi Marannot measured- - 76
Nayab Singh Saininot measured- - 77
Diya Kumarinot measured- - 78
Mausam Noornot measured- - 79
Ram Madhavnot measured- - 80
Priya Sarojnot measured- - 81
Charanjit Singh Channinot measured- - 82
Rakhi Birlanot measured- - 83
Anbumani Ramadossnot measured- - 84
Naveen Jindalnot measured- - 85
Sushmita Devnot measured- - 86
Syed Shahnawaz Hussainnot measured- - 87
Mirwaiz Umar Farooqnot measured- - 88
K. T. Rama Raonot measured- - 89
Annapurna Devi Yadavnot measured- - 90
Achyuta Samantanot measured- - 91
Shambhavi Choudharynot measured- - 92
Tej Pratap Yadavnot measured- - 93
Gajendra Singh Shekhawatnot measured- - 94
Poonam Mahajan Raonot measured- - 95
Misa Bharati Devinot measured- - 96
K. Kavithanot measured- - 97Dola Sennot measured-
- 98
Prajwal Revannanot measured- - 99
Amritpal Singhnot measured- - 100
Sharmistha Mukherjeenot 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.