← 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
Twinkle Khanna0 decades - 2
Neha Sharmanot measured- - 3
Chetan Bhagatnot measured- - 4
Kiran Desai0 decades - 5
Irom Chanu Sharmilanot measured- - 6
Saroo Brierleynot measured- - 7
Upendranot measured- - 8
Pankaj Mishranot measured- - 9
Shalini Kumarnot measured- - 10
Amish Tripathinot measured- - 11
Nidhi Razdannot measured- - 12
Ira Trivedinot measured- - 13
Meena Kandasamynot measured- - 14
Devdutt Pattanaiknot measured- - 15
Vijay Prashadnot measured- - 16
Girish Kumarnot measured- - 17
Milind Gunajinot measured- - 18
Anita Nairnot measured- - 19Anuradha Roynot measured-
- 20
K. R. Meeranot measured- - 21
Arundhathi Subramaniamnot measured- - 22
Meenakshi Jainnot measured- - 23
Jay Bhattacharyanot measured- - 24
Perumal Murugannot measured- - 25
Vibhavari Deshpandenot measured- - 26Baby Haldernot measured-
- 27
Na. Muthukumarnot measured- - 28
Ankit Fadianot measured- - 29Juhi Chaturvedinot measured-
- 30
Leela Gandhinot measured- - 31
Nikita Singhnot measured- - 32
Devyani Khobragadenot measured- - 33
Megha Majumdarnot measured- - 34
Tishani Doshinot measured- - 35
Vignesh Shivannot measured- - 36
Suresh Menonnot measured- - 37
Jothimaninot measured- - 38
Raj B. Shettynot measured- - 39
Rohena Geranot measured- - 40
Rashmi Bansalnot measured- - 41
Raj Kumar Guptanot measured- - 42
Sujata Mohapatranot measured- - 43
Kirthi Jayakumarnot measured- - 44
Anuradha Bhattacharyyanot measured- - 45
Shumona Sinhanot measured- - 46Ritu Menonnot measured-
- 47
Preeti Singhnot measured- - 48Kota Neelimanot measured-
- 49
Aanchal Malhotranot measured- - 50
Inaamulhaqnot measured- - 51Aranya Joharnot measured-
- 52Aditi Guptanot measured-
- 53
Tapan Kumar Pradhannot measured- - 54
Amruta Patilnot measured- - 55
George Panamthundilnot measured- - 56
Abhijat Joshinot measured- - 57
Anvita Duttnot measured- - 58Mandākrāntā Sennot measured-
- 59Nilanjana S. Roynot measured-
- 60
Gulfam Khannot measured- - 61
Ravindra Prabhatnot measured- - 62
Neel Mukherjeenot measured- - 63
Gayatribala Pandanot measured- - 64Raj Kamal Jhanot measured-
- 65
Haarsh Limbachiyaanot measured- - 66
Priya Kumarnot measured- - 67
Binalakshmi Nepramnot measured- - 68
Krishna Kumarnot measured- - 69
Jaideep Sahninot measured- - 70
Neeraj Ghaywannot measured- - 71
Sachynot measured- - 72Nandini Sahunot measured-
- 73
Himanshu Sharmanot measured- - 74
Dr Ramesh Singh Palnot measured- - 75
Benyaminnot measured- - 76Abha Dawesarnot measured-
- 77Sumana Roynot measured-
- 78
Devapriya Roynot measured- - 79
Ranjit Hoskotenot measured- - 80
Indu Menonnot measured- - 81Vijayarajamallikanot measured-
- 82
Trishneet Aroranot measured- - 83
Rajat Aroranot measured- - 84
Umarji Anuradhanot measured- - 85
Swapna Patkernot measured- - 86
Farah Pandithnot measured- - 87
Varun Agarwalnot measured- - 88Kiran Manralnot measured-
- 89Rahul Panditanot measured-
- 90Madhuri Vijaynot measured-
- 91Rahman Abbasnot measured-
- 92
CS Chandrikanot measured- - 93
Rupa Bajwanot measured- - 94
Neelam Saxena Chandranot measured- - 95
Subhash Chandrannot measured- - 96Annie Zaidinot measured-
- 97
Deepa Bhasthinot measured- - 98
Mamta Sagarnot measured- - 99
Ambika Anandnot measured- - 100
Anasuya Senguptanot 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.