Trending Linguists — the 12 months to October 2026
The 100 most-viewed linguists on Wikipedia, the 12 months to October 2026. Ranked by real-world attention. Top: Joseph Stalin. Data as of 25 October 2026.
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- the 12 months to October 2026 · Data as of 25 October 2026
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- 100 linguists — drawn from 12,774,962 articles Wikipedia recorded views for in this window
This counts a Wikipedia language edition, not a country's residents. Nothing here is capped or sampled: it is every view Wikipedia published for these articles in the window. Rows carrying a 📰 badge add news coverage from GDELT; entity names and types come from Wikidata. Looking for what one country read? That is what the world reads — a different, capped measurement.
Where this data comes from ›100
Ranked
5,719,919
Total Views (the 12 months to October 2026)
1
Joseph Stalin
politician and leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1924 to 1953
676,073
views
views
2
J. R. R. Tolkien
English writer and philologist (1892–1973)
449,093
views
views
3
Helen Keller
American deafblind author, political activist, lecturer, scholar (1880-1968)
364,548
views
views
4
C. S. Lewis
British writer, lay theologian, and scholar (1898–1963)
242,614
views
views
5
Dante Alighieri
Florentine poet, writer, and philosopher (c. 1265–1321)
215,745
views
views
6
Noam Chomsky
American linguist and activist (born 1928)
180,284
views
views
7
Haruki Murakami
Japanese writer (born 1949)
176,670
views
views
8
Benedictus de Spinoza
Dutch philosopher (1632–1677)
142,589
views
views
9
Percy Bysshe Shelley
British Romantic poet (1792–1822)
105,935
views
views
10
Samuel Beckett
Irish writer (1906–1989)
103,881
views
views
11
Walter Scott
Scottish novelist, poet and playwright (1771–1832)
102,084
views
views
12
George Bernard Shaw
Irish playwright, critic, and polemicist (1856–1950)
90,888
views
views
13
Umberto Eco
Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist (1932–2016)
85,733
views
views
14
Geoffrey Chaucer
14th century English poet and author (1343–1400)
75,899
views
views
15
José Rizal
Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath (1861–1896)
75,672
views
views
16
Reality Winner
U.S. Air Force veteran and former NSA translator, with the longest prison sentence for an unauthorized release of government classified information to the media
74,084
views
views
17
Jan Hus
Czech theologian, philosopher and preacher (1369-1415)
70,680
views
views
18
William James Sidis
American child prodigy (1898-1944)
67,630
views
views
19
Jamie Hyneman
American special effects specialist and television host
65,960
views
views
20
Paul Auster
American novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter (1947-2024)
61,563
views
views
21
Samuel Johnson
English writer and lexicographer (1709–1784)
60,211
views
views
22
Enoch Powell
British politician (1912–1998)
59,357
views
views
23
Jane Hawking
British author
59,335
views
views
24
Mikhail Lomonosov
Russian polymath (1711-1765)
47,977
views
views
25
Susie Dent
English lexicographer
46,457
views
views
26
Denis Diderot
French Enlightenment philosopher writer and encyclopædist (1713–1784)
46,118
views
views
27
Steven Pinker
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of the mind
45,263
views
views
28
William Tyndale
English Bible translator and reformer
44,144
views
views
29
Jacob Grimm
German philologist, linguist, jurist and mythologist (1785–1863)
43,879
views
views
30
Julio Cortázar
Argentine writer and translator (1914–1984)
43,742
views
views
31
Thomas Carlyle
Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)
42,785
views
views
32
Roland Barthes
French philosopher and essayist (1915–1980)
41,959
views
views
33
Sejong the Great
fourth king of Joseon (Korea), creator of Hangul
41,452
views
views
34
Kūkai
Japanese Buddhist monk and calligrapher, the founder of the Shingon school (774–835)
39,571
views
views
35
Gregory Potyomkin
Russian military leader and politician (1739–1791)
39,528
views
views
36
Aurobindo Ghosh
Indian Bengali philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet and nationalist (1872–1950)
36,542
views
views
37
José Martí
Cuban poet, philosopher and nationalist (1853-1895)
36,480
views
views
38
Edith Stein
Jewish-German Catholic nun, theologian and philosopher (1891–1942)
36,174
views
views
39
Nyota Uhura
Star Trek character
35,359
views
views
40
J. M. Coetzee
South African and Australian writer and scholar (born 1940)
35,137
views
views
41
Machado de Assis
Brazilian writer (1839–1908)
34,108
views
views
42
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
33,563
views
views
43
C. Rajagopalachari
Indian politician and activist (1878–1972)
33,025
views
views
44
Takahito, Prince Mikasa
Japanese prince (1915–2016)
32,374
views
views
45
Daniel Everett
American linguist (born 1951)
31,872
views
views
46
Cesare Pavese
Italian writer, literary critic, and translator (1908–1950)
31,564
views
views
47
Jaun Elia
Pakistani poet and writer (1931-2002)
31,368
views
views
48
Thomas Henry Huxley
British biologist and comparative anatomist (1825–1895)
30,942
views
views
49
Julian Barnes
English writer (born 1946)
30,773
views
views
50
Alcide De Gasperi
Italian politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party (1881-1954)
30,746
views
views
51
David Mitchell (author)
English novelist (b. 1969)
30,032
views
views
52
Seamus Heaney
Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer (1939–2013)
29,458
views
views
53
Mori Ōgai
Japanese novelist and army physician (1862-1922)
29,074
views
views
54
H. L. Mencken
American journalist and writer (1880–1956)
28,698
views
views
55
Thomas Bernhard
Austrian playwright and novelist (1931–1989)
28,456
views
views
56
Ferdinand de Saussure
Swiss linguist and philosopher (1857–1913)
28,424
views
views
57
Nikos Kazantzakis
Greek writer, poet and philosopher (1883-1957)
28,271
views
views
58
Nakahama Manjirō
English interpreter
28,119
views
views
59
Peter Abelard
French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician (c.1079-1142)
28,013
views
views
60
Girish Karnad
Indian playwright, theatre personality (1938–2019)
27,717
views
views
61
Richard Francis Burton
British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)
26,869
views
views
62
Al-Biruni
11th-century Khwarazmian scholar and polymath (973–1048)
26,747
views
views
63
Roger Williams
English Baptist theologian and author (1603–1683)
26,229
views
views
64
Julius Nyerere
Tanzanian politician and writer, first Prime Minister and President of Tanzania (1922–1999)
26,136
views
views
65
Wilhelm Grimm
German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)
25,766
views
views
66
Jean-François Champollion
French classical scholar (1790-1832)
25,450
views
views
67
Ivan Goncharov
Russian novelist and official (1812–1891)
24,250
views
views
68
Charles Sanders Peirce
American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist (1839-1914)
24,246
views
views
69
Boris Akunin
Russian writer, translation, and historian
24,146
views
views
70
Anatoly Moskvin
Russian ethnographer, linguist and criminal
24,119
views
views
71
Patrick O'Brian
English novelist (1914–2000)
23,065
views
views
72
Aulus Gellius
2nd century Roman author and grammarian
21,028
views
views
73
Ken Liu
Chinese-American writer
20,476
views
views
74
Franz Boas
German-American anthropologist
19,704
views
views
75
Shūmei Ōkawa
Japanese nationalist intellectual (1886–1957)
19,655
views
views
76
William Caxton
English merchant and printer (c. 1422–c. 1491)
19,500
views
views
77
Julia Kristeva
Bulgarian philosopher, psychoanalyst & academic
19,358
views
views
78
Charles de Foucauld
French Catholic religious man, explorer and scholar (1858–1916)
19,296
views
views
79
Nitobe Inazō
Japanese educator, agricultural economist and diplomat (1862–1933)
19,131
views
views
80
Willard Van Orman Quine
American philosopher and logician (1900–2000)
19,118
views
views
81
Mikhail Bakhtin
Russian intellectual and philosopher (1895–1975)
19,026
views
views
82
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Prussian philosopher, government official, diplomat, and educator (1767–1835)
18,986
views
views
83
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Sarah Forbes Bonetta
West African princess
18,922
views
views
84
L. L. Zamenhof
Polish-Jewish physician and inventor of Esperanto (1859-1917)
18,809
views
views
85
John Searle
American philosopher (1932–2025)
18,737
views
views
86
John Amos Comenius
Czech teacher, educator, philosopher and writer (1592-1670)
18,615
views
views
87
Vyvyan Holland
British author, translator (1886–1967)
18,418
views
views
88
Joseph Priestley
English chemist, theologian, educator, and political theorist (1733–1804)
18,159
views
views
89
Panini
ancient philologist who standardized classical Sanskrit through grammatical rules
17,966
views
views
90
Yuri Knorozov
Soviet and Russian mesoamericanist (1922-1999)
17,778
views
views
91
Sequoyah
Cherokee silversmith and creator of the Cherokee syllabary
17,499
views
views
92
Muhammad Asad
Austrian-born Pakistani writer and social activist (1900–1992)
17,325
views
views
93
Sirindhorn, Princess Royal
Thai royal
16,804
views
views
94
Haakon Chevalier
American translator, writer and academic (1901–1985)
16,752
views
views
95
Alejandra Pizarnik
Argentinian poet (1936-1972)
16,678
views
views
96
Angela Carter
English novelist (1940–1992)
16,517
views
views
97
Nikolay Karamzin
Russian writer, poet, critic
15,979
views
views
98
Patanjali
ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises
15,830
views
views
99
Katharine Gun
translator and whistle-blower
15,715
views
views
100
Leon Battista Alberti
Italian architect and writer (1404-1472)
15,423
views
views