← 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
Tom Hollandnot measured- - 2
Emma Watson1 decades - 3
Kate Winslet3 decades - 4
Andrew Garfield0 decades - 5
Jason Statham0 decades - 6
Emily Blunt0 decades - 7
Keira Knightley2 decades - 8
Robert Pattinson1 decades - 9
Daniel Craig2 decades - 10
Tom Hardy1 decades - 11
Daniel Radcliffe1 decades - 12
Christian Bale2 decades - 13
Catherine Zeta-Jones2 decades - 14
Millie Bobby Brown0 decades - 15
Orlando Bloom2 decades - 16
Emilia Clarke0 decades - 17
Naomi Watts2 decades - 18
Henry Cavill0 decades - 19
Rachel Weisz1 decades - 20
Helena Bonham Carter3 decades - 21
Idris Elba1 decades - 22
Jude Law2 decades - 23
Kate Beckinsale1 decades - 24
Lily Collins0 decades - 25
Rosamund Pike0 decades - 26
Nicholas Hoult0 decades - 27
Taron Egerton0 decades - 28
Tom Hiddleston0 decades - 29
Benedict Cumberbatch1 decades - 30
Alia Bhatt0 decades - 31
Gerard Butler0 decades - 32
Anya Taylor-Joynot measured- - 33
Sophie Turner0 decades - 34
Florence Pugh0 decades - 35
Kiefer Sutherland3 decades - 36
Olivia Colman0 decades - 37
Carey Mulligan0 decades - 38
Kit Harington0 decades - 39
Eddie Redmayne0 decades - 40
Katrina Kaif0 decades - 41
Simon Pegg0 decades - 42
James McAvoy0 decades - 43
Lena Headey0 decades - 44
Rupert Grint0 decades - 45
Vanessa Kirby0 decades - 46
Chiwetel Ejiofor0 decades - 47
Karen Gillan0 decades - 48
Felicity Jonesnot measured- - 49
David Tennant1 decades - 50
Paul Bettany0 decades - 51
Lily James0 decades - 52
Elizabeth Hurley1 decades - 53
Daisy Ridley0 decades - 54
Hayley Atwell0 decades - 55
Matt Smith1 decades - 56
Aaron Taylor-Johnson0 decades - 57
Rebecca Hallnot measured- - 58
Martin Freemannot measured- - 59
Charlie Hunnam0 decades - 60
Will Poulter0 decades - 61
Tom Felton0 decades - 62
Dev Patel0 decades - 63
Maisie Williams0 decades - 64
Michael Sheen0 decades - 65
Naomi Scottnot measured- - 66
Thandiwe Newtonnot measured- - 67
Natalie Dormer0 decades - 68
Kaya Scodelario0 decades - 69
Charlotte Gainsbourg0 decades - 70
Minnie Driver1 decades - 71
Emily Watson1 decades - 72
Naomie Harris0 decades - 73
Jamie Campbell Bower0 decades - 74
Bonnie Wrightnot measured- - 75
Cynthia Erivo0 decades - 76
Richard Maddennot measured- - 77
Freddie Highmore0 decades - 78
Juno Temple0 decades - 79
Bella Ramseynot measured- - 80
Helen McCrory0 decades - 81
Claire Foy0 decades - 82
Luke Evans0 decades - 83
Ben Whishaw0 decades - 84
Dominic Monaghan0 decades - 85
Sally Hawkins0 decades - 86
Gwendoline Christie0 decades - 87
Emma Corrinnot measured- - 88
Mia Gothnot measured- - 89
Alan Cumming1 decades - 90
Jamie Dornan0 decades - 91
Samantha Morton0 decades - 92
Andrew Lincoln0 decades - 93
Joseph Fiennes0 decades - 94
Theo James0 decades - 95
Rose Leslie0 decades - 96
Daniel Kaluuya0 decades - 97
Gemma Chan0 decades - 98
Jamie Bell0 decades - 99
Gemma Arterton0 decades - 100
Rhys Ifans0 decades
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.