← 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
Mario Balotelli1 decades - 2
Gianluigi Buffon2 decades - 3
Roberto Baggio3 decades - 4
Paolo Maldini3 decades - 5
Gianluigi Donnarummanot measured- - 6
Antonio Conte5 decades - 7
Andrea Pirlo1 decades - 8
Francesco Totti2 decades - 9
Alessandro Del Piero3 decades - 10
Fabio Cannavaro2 decades - 11
Gennaro Gattuso0 decades - 12
Filippo Inzaghi2 decades - 13
Federico Chiesanot measured- - 14
Ciro Immobilenot measured- - 15
Massimiliano Allegri1 decades - 16
Enzo Marescanot measured- - 17
Simone Inzaghi0 decades - 18
Christian Vieri3 decades - 19
Stephan El Shaarawynot measured- - 20
Marco Verrattinot measured- - 21
Lorenzo Insigne0 decades - 22
Moise Keannot measured- - 23
Alessandro Nesta2 decades - 24
Daniele De Rossi1 decades - 25
Yann Sommernot measured- - 26
Antonio Cassano2 decades - 27
Luca Toni2 decades - 28
Giorgio Chiellini0 decades - 29
Marco Materazzi2 decades - 30
Leonardo Bonucci0 decades - 31
Nicolò Barellanot measured- - 32
Gianfranco Zola1 decades - 33
Antonio Di Natalenot measured- - 34
Alberto Gilardino0 decades - 35
Riccardo Calafiorinot measured- - 36
Alessandro Bastoninot measured- - 37
Sandro Tonalinot measured- - 38
Andrea Belottinot measured- - 39
Fabio Grosso1 decades - 40
Alessandro Costacurta0 decades - 41
Manuel Locatellinot measured- - 42
Gianluca Zambrotta0 decades - 43
Francesco Acerbinot measured- - 44
Vincenzo Montellanot measured- - 45
Matteo Darmiannot measured- - 46
Federico Bernardeschinot measured- - 47
Domenico Berardinot measured- - 48
Federico Dimarconot measured- - 49
Claudio Marchisio0 decades - 50
Roberto De Zerbinot measured- - 51
Paolo Di Canio2 decades - 52
Alberto Aquilani0 decades - 53
Santiago Giméneznot measured- - 54
Ignazio Abatenot measured- - 55
Fabio Quagliarella0 decades - 56
Alessandro Florenzinot measured- - 57
Leonardo Spinazzolanot measured- - 58
Sebastian Giovinco0 decades - 59
Giacomo Raspadorinot measured- - 60
Giovanni Di Lorenzonot measured- - 61
Fabio Borininot measured- - 62
Mattia Perinnot measured- - 63
Gianluca Scamaccanot measured- - 64
Nicolò Zaniolonot measured- - 65
Stefano Piolinot measured- - 66
Massimo Ambrosini0 decades - 67
Bryan Cristantenot measured- - 68
Demetrio Albertini0 decades - 69
Gianluca Mancininot measured- - 70
Davide Astori0 decades - 71
Alessandro Matrinot measured- - 72
Marco Borriello0 decades - 73
Simone Zazanot measured- - 74
Federico Machedanot measured- - 75
Francesco Toldo0 decades - 76
Domenico Tedesconot measured- - 77
Alessio Romagnolinot measured- - 78
Salvatore Sirigunot measured- - 79
Gianluca Pagliuca0 decades - 80
Graziano Pellènot measured- - 81
Vincenzo Iaquintanot measured- - 82Matteo Politanonot measured-
- 83
Fabrizio Ravanellinot measured- - 84
Daniele Ruganinot measured- - 85
Alex Meretnot measured- - 86
Davide Zappacostanot measured- - 87
Patrick Cutronenot measured- - 88
Federico Balzarettinot measured- - 89Daniel Maldininot measured-
- 90
Nicola Zalewskinot measured- - 91
Piermario Morosininot measured- - 92
Davide Frattesinot measured- - 93
Davide Calabrianot measured- - 94
Emil Audero Mulyadinot measured- - 95
Giacomo Bonaventuranot measured- - 96
Raffaele Palladinonot measured- - 97
Matteo Pessinanot measured- - 98
Emanuele Giaccherininot measured- - 99
Fabrizio Miccolinot measured- - 100
Federico Gattinot 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.