Fame through time
Famous after death — 19th century
People whose names were printed far more after they died than while they lived, ranked by the share of all their mentions in print that came after death — in their own language, and counted from five years on, so the obituaries do not count.
#PersonIn print, 1800–2019After death
- 1
Zuo Zongtang1812–1885 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians100% - 2
Hong Xiuquan1814–1864 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians100% - 3
Tan Sitong1865–1898 · 🇨🇳 China · Academics100% - 4
Lin Tse-hsu1785–1850 · Politicians100% - 5
Zeng Guofan1811–1872 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians100%
- 6
Sergey Solovyov1820–1879 · Writers100% - 7
Louis Vuitton1821–1892 · 🇫🇷 France · Designers100% - 8
Marie Bashkirtseva1860–1884 · Artists100% - 9
Shoqan Walikhanov1835–1865 · Academics100% - 10
Alexander Ulyanov1866–1887 · Activists100% - 11
Abraham Goldfaden1840–1908 · Writers100% - 12
Mikhail Alekseyev1857–1918 · Politicians100% - 13
Abay Kunanbaiuly1845–1904 · Writers100% - 14
Christian Dietrich Grabbe1801–1836 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Writers100% - 15
Vladimir Stasov1824–1906100% - 16
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky1840–1893 · Musicians100% - 17
Ivan Vazov1850–1921 · Writers100%
- 18
Fyodor Tyutchev1803–1873 · Writers100% - 19
Nikolai Ge1831–1894 · Artists100% - 20
Natalia Pushkina1812–1863100% - 21
Nikolai Lobachevsky1792–1856 · Academics100% - 22
Stepan Makarov1849–1904 · Scientists100% - 23
Nikolai Rubinstein1835–1881 · Musicians100% - 24
Pyotr Chaadayev1794–1856 · Academics100% - 25
Kondraty Ryleyev1795–1826 · Writers100% - 26
Alexander Kovalevsky1840–1901 · Academics100%
- 27
Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows1838–1862100% - 28
Wilhelm Küchelbecker1797–1846 · Writers100% - 29
Wild Bill Hickok1837–1876 · 🇺🇸 United States · Athletes100% - 30
Vasily Surikov1848–1916 · Artists100% - 31
Pyotr Lavrov1823–1900 · Academics100% - 32
Pavel Pestel1793–1826 · Activists100% - 33
Ivan Kramskoi1837–1887 · Artists100% - 34
Mikhail Vrubel1856–1910 · Artists100% - 35
Alexei Khomyakov1804–1860 · Academics100% - 36
Eduard Meyer1855–1930 · Academics100%
- 37
Aleksey Koltsov1809–1842 · Writers100% - 38
Mirza Fatali Akhundov1812–1878 · Writers100% - 39
Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev1856–1915 · Musicians100% - 40
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov1844–1908 · Musicians100% - 41
Gerard Manley Hopkins1844–1889 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers100% - 42
Carlo Collodi1826–1890 · Writers100% - 43
Bahá'u'lláh1817–1892 · Writers100% - 44
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer1836–1870 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Writers100% - 45
Eugène Atget1857–1927 · 🇫🇷 France · Artists100% - 46
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers100% - 47
Emily Dickinson1830–1886 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers100% - 48
Antoni Gaudí1852–1926 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Architects100% - 49
Jenny von Westphalen1814–1881 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Politicians100% - 50
Christian Daniel Rauch1777–1857 · Artists100% - 51
Johnny Appleseed1774–1845 · 🇺🇸 United States · Scientists100% - 52
Tristan Corbière1845–1875 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers100% - 53
Johann Jakob Bachofen1815–1887 · 🇨🇭 Switzerland · Academics100% - 54
Nathan Bedford Forrest1821–1877 · 🇺🇸 United States100% - 55
John Vianney1786–1859 · 🇫🇷 France · Religious Figures100% - 56
Ramakrishna1836–1886 · 🇮🇳 India · Academics100% - 57
George Armstrong Custer1839–1876 · 🇺🇸 United States · Historical Figures100% - 58
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff1797–1848 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Musicians100% - 59
Aloysius Bertrand1807–1841 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers100%
- 60
Juliette Récamier1777–1849 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers100% - 61
Gottlieb Daimler1834–1900 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Scientists99% - 62
Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers99% - 63
Maurice de Guérin1810–1839 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers99% - 64
Mary Shelley1797–1851 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers99% - 65
Anita Garibaldi1821–1849 · 🇧🇷 Brazil · Politicians99% - 66
Kang Youwei1858–1927 · 🇨🇳 China · Politicians99% - 67
Charlotte Brontë1816–1855 · 🇬🇧 United Kingdom · Writers99% - 68
Mary Todd Lincoln1818–1882 · 🇺🇸 United States99% - 69
Carl Zeiss1816–1888 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Scientists99% - 70
Sholem Aleichem1859–1916 · Writers99% - 71
Johns Hopkins1795–1873 · 🇺🇸 United States · Founders99% - 72
Vincent van Gogh1853–1890 · 🇳🇱 Netherlands · Artists99% - 73
Carl Spitzweg1808–1885 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Artists99% - 74
Marie d'Agoult1805–1876 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers99% - 75
Valentín Gómez Farías1781–1858 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Politicians99%
- 76
Moses Hess1812–1875 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics99% - 77
Konstantin Pobedonostsev1827–1907 · Academics99% - 78
Marceline Desbordes-Valmore1786–1859 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers99% - 79
Miguel Miramón1832–1867 · 🇲🇽 Mexico · Politicians99% - 80
Francis Scott Key1779–1843 · 🇺🇸 United States · Writers99% - 81
Kosta Khetagurov1859–1906 · Writers99% - 82
Charles de Foucauld1858–1916 · 🇫🇷 France · Historical Figures99% - 83
Laura Marx1845–1911 · Writers99% - 84
Maria Ulyanova1835–1916 · Educators99% - 85
Agustina de Aragón1786–1857 · 🇪🇸 Spain99% - 86
Thérèse of Lisieux1873–1897 · 🇫🇷 France · Academics99% - 87
Dmitri Mendeleev1834–1907 · Scientists98% - 88
Vasily Polenov1844–1927 · Artists98% - 89
Emperor Meiji1852–1912 · 🇯🇵 Japan · Historical Figures98% - 90
Stendhal1783–1842 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers98% - 91
Friedrich Engels1820–1895 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics98% - 92
Kliment Timiryazev1843–1920 · Scientists98% - 93
Honoré de Balzac1799–1850 · 🇫🇷 France · Writers98% - 94
José de San Martín1778–1850 · 🇦🇷 Argentina · Politicians98% - 95
Italo Svevo1861–1928 · Writers98% - 96
Joseph von Eichendorff1788–1857 · Writers98% - 97
Yan Fu1854–1921 · Writers98% - 98
Karl Marx1818–1883 · 🇩🇪 Germany · Academics98% - 99
Rosalía de Castro1837–1885 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Writers98% - 100
Ramón María Narváez, 1st Duke of Valencia1800–1868 · 🇪🇸 Spain · Writers98%
How this is measured
- Placing people in time. Each person belongs to the century in which they were most active — around age 35, and never after their death.
- Who ranks highest. Within a century, people are ranked where two independent signals agree: how many of the world’s Wikipedia language editions cover them, and how many people actually read about them. Article counts alone can be lifted by a person’s own circle; readers cannot.
- Fame in print. The curves count how often a name appears in Google Books from 1800 to 2019, as a share of all the words printed each year, in the person’s own language wherever that corpus exists. Those decades are over, so each measurement is made once and kept.
- What is left out. A lifetime is measured only from 1820, when there is enough print to judge; the five years after a death are skipped as obituaries; and a name shared with someone equally notable is credited to neither.