← 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
J. K. Rowling2 decades - 2
Seth MacFarlane0 decades - 3
Amal Clooney0 decades - 4
Bear Grylls1 decades - 5
Marjane Satrapi2 decades - 6
Chris Kyle0 decades - 7
Lena Dunham1 decades - 8
Jennette McCurdy0 decades - 9
James Gunnnot measured- - 10
Chelsea Clintonnot measured- - 11
Sam Harrisnot measured- - 12
Olena Zelenska0 decades - 13
Yuval Noah Hararinot measured- - 14
Trey Parker2 decades - 15
Queen Rania of Jordan0 decades - 16
John Greennot measured- - 17
MacKenzie Scott0 decades - 18
Amélie Nothomb3 decades - 19
Brandon Sanderson0 decades - 20
Nirmal Purjanot measured- - 21
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie1 decades - 22
Milo Yiannopoulos0 decades - 23
Vince Gilligan0 decades - 24
Stephenie Meyer1 decades - 25
Han Kangnot measured- - 26
Naomi Klein2 decades - 27
Padma Lakshmi0 decades - 28
Colleen Hoover0 decades - 29
Ryan Murphy1 decades - 30
Shawn Levy0 decades - 31
Nicholas Sparks2 decades - 32
David Benioff0 decades - 33
Elizabeth Gilbert1 decades - 34
Khaled Hosseini1 decades - 35
Sally Rooney0 decades - 36
Twinkle Khanna0 decades - 37
Gavin McInnes0 decades - 38
Elif Şafak0 decades - 39
Andy Weirnot measured- - 40
Zadie Smith2 decades - 41
Alex Garlandnot measured- - 42
Kim Yuna0 decades - 43
Timothy Snyder1 decades - 44
Dmitry Glukhovsky1 decades - 45
Kim Tae-heenot measured- - 46
Frédéric Beigbeder3 decades - 47
Jhumpa Lahiri2 decades - 48
Kim Go-eunnot measured- - 49
Bethany Hamiltonnot measured- - 50
Gillian Flynn0 decades - 51
John Francis Daleynot measured- - 52
Asghar Farhadi0 decades - 53
Kayleigh McEnanynot measured- - 54
Amanda Gormannot measured- - 55
Eric Kripkenot measured- - 56
Fredrik Backmannot measured- - 57
Mark Fishernot measured- - 58
Matt Reevesnot measured- - 59
Colson Whiteheadnot measured- - 60
Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoumnot measured- - 61
Douglas Murraynot measured- - 62
Virginie Despentes3 decades - 63
Neha Sharmanot measured- - 64
Gilad Shalit2 decades - 65
China Miévillenot measured- - 66
David Blainenot measured- - 67
Pippa Middletonnot measured- - 68
Cassandra Clare0 decades - 69
Rupi Kaur0 decades - 70
Tessa Virtuenot measured- - 71
Hanya Yanagiharanot measured- - 72
Marie Kondōnot measured- - 73
Christopher McQuarrienot measured- - 74
Jojo Moyesnot measured- - 75
Ari Behnnot measured- - 76
John Boynenot measured- - 77
Cesar Millannot measured- - 78
Zakhar Prilepinnot measured- - 79
Taylor Sheridannot measured- - 80
Patrick Rothfussnot measured- - 81
Damon Lindelofnot measured- - 82
Jonathan Safran Foer2 decades - 83
Simon Sebag Montefiorenot measured- - 84
Kevin Williamsonnot measured- - 85
Daniel Kehlmann2 decades - 86
Quinta Brunsonnot measured- - 87
Luisa Neubauernot measured- - 88
Florian Zellernot measured- - 89
Hank Greennot measured- - 90
Brad Falchuknot measured- - 91
Masahiro Sakurainot measured- - 92
Mieko Kawakaminot measured- - 93Justine Musknot measured-
- 94
Cecelia Ahern0 decades - 95
Dan Housernot measured- - 96
Rebecca Sugarnot measured- - 97
Camilla Läckberg0 decades - 98
David Gogginsnot measured- - 99
Jodi Picoultnot measured- - 100
Ta-Nehisi Coatesnot 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.