Who is the most famous person in the world

[Lathum]

My daughter, 7, asked me that in the car today on the way to my nieces high school graduation BBQ. The conversation spilled over to the BBQ and the answers were interesting and as you can imagine based on demographics. I have mine narrowed down to two people I will keep to myself for now.

What says the wisdom of FOFC?

[JPhillips]

Trump
Messi

[ISiddiqui]

Tom Hanks

Bono

Messi or Ronaldo

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[albionmoonlight]

Pope Francis

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Pope Francis

That's an excellent one.

[bhlloy]

I think those are two excellent answers. Trump is probably more famous than any US president ever, and you've got arguably the most famous person in the sport with the most global reach (Ronaldo would also be a perfectly acceptable answer).

Third place for me would be interesting. Putin?

Assuming these are living people here (e.g. you can't say Jesus Christ)

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Tom Hanks

Bono

Messi or Ronaldo

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There's no way Hanks or Bono are more famous than Trump. The Pope is an excellent answer too.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

There's no way Hanks or Bono are more famous than Trump. The Pope is an excellent answer too.

You may be surprised re: Hanks and Bono. Plenty of folks in developing countries watch American movies and listen to popular American music. Even among those who don't really follow world politics. Hollywood has reach the US government can only dream of.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

That's an excellent one.

My first thought as well.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Pope Francis

great one we didn't think of

[JPhillips]

How well known is the Pope in Asia?

edit: Any "right" answer has to be very famous in Asia.

[Lathum]

My wife said Bono and we both agreed Michael Jackson would have been at one point.

The two I can up with were Ronaldo and LeBron.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

How well known is the Pope in Asia?

my thought exactly. LeBron is a monster in Asia and Africa

[ISiddiqui]

I think any good answer has to account for who is popular in China and India, as that is like 3 billion of the world combined (and plenty there aren't tied into the global zietgeist like we may be),

Edit: What JPhillips said

[JPhillips]

One of the reasons I said Trump was his fame in both China and India.

[Johnny93g]

Michael Jordan

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

my thought exactly. LeBron is a monster in Asia and Africa

I'd argue Messi and Ronaldo blow LeBron away in Asia and Africa (but LeBron is more popular in the US & Canada). Though Messi and Ronaldo are far more popular in Europe and South America as well.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I think any good answer has to account for who is popular in China and India, as that is like 3 billion of the world combined (and plenty there aren't tied into the global zietgeist like we may be),

Edit: What JPhillips said

lol

Almost 60% of the global population is in Asia.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

One of the reasons I said Trump was his fame in both China and India.

So the difficult part of this question is that both of these countries have millions upon millions who don't necessarily follow world politics but may follow world sport or movies. I ran into this phenomenon a bit when I go visit family in Pakistan (though it's been 17 years since the last time).

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

So the difficult part of this question is that both of these countries have millions upon millions who don't necessarily follow world politics but may follow world sport or movies. I ran into this phenomenon a bit when I go visit family in Pakistan (though it's been 17 years since the last time).

Modi's full court press on Trump's visit makes me think he has to be well known.

[RainMaker]

Trump or Obama

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

I'd argue Messi and Ronaldo blow LeBron away in Asia and Africa (but LeBron is more popular in the US & Canada). Though Messi and Ronaldo are far more popular in Europe and South America as well.

I'm not sure about that. Yao Ming made hoops amazingly popular in China.

[Lathum]

dola- some articles from a few years back have Kobe as the most popular athlete in China. Would make sense LeBron would take that over

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Modi's full court press on Trump's visit makes me think he has to be well known.

Maybe just as America backs us, but as I recall, polls during Trump's visit indicated 30-40% of Indians didn't know who Trump was.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Lathum

dola- some articles from a few years back have Kobe as the most popular athlete in China. Would make sense LeBron would take that over

Kobe was, but part of that is that Kobe went to China quite a bit. In that poll Messi and Ronaldo were 2 and 3 after Kobe. And then LeBron. Don't think it's a given Kobe fans went to LeBron - I mean they didn't in the US.

[CrimsonFox]

you Lathum. just you

[stevew]

Jordan or Trump.

[PilotMan]

Assume we're only limited to living? Or complete history?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'd have to think Ronaldo over Messi at this point. I mean, a 50% larger IG audience kinda has to matter, doesn't it?

edit to complete thought: OR is there enough non-IG people in the world to make up that difference? I mean, if you'd asked ME to name an international soccer star, I'd have thought of Messi several people before Ronaldo.

[Edward64]

Didn't specify alive or dead so I'll say in order of followers ... (1) Jesus (2) Allah (3) Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva (4) Buddha. I'd toss in Confucius as probably everyone in China knows of him.

[Lathum]

The implication was alive or recently alive. Muhamed Ali came up

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Didn't specify alive or dead so I'll say in order of followers ... (1) Jesus (2) Allah (3) Brahma/Vishnu/Shiva (4) Buddha. I'd toss in Confucius as probably everyone in China knows of him.

Allah is not a person.

[tarcone]

Tiger Woods

[sterlingice]

Xi Jinping or Modi probably aren't at the top of the list but they have to be in the top 10, right?

SI

[frnk55]

Joe Namath. With all those commercials that run all day for months it's him.

[albionmoonlight]

I do like my Pope guess, and I think that he's in the mix.

But I probably have to go Messi. Then maybe LeBron. I just don't have a sense of the popularity of football vs. basketball in those ultradense parts of China & India that we are (rightly) focused on.

[albionmoonlight]

Here's that crazy map. More humans live inside this circle than outside of it:

[albionmoonlight]

triple dola:

When Kobe was alive, I might have guessed him. He seemed to have more international fame than even LeBron.

[MIJB#19]

Cristiano Ronaldo

[whomario]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

I do like my Pope guess, and I think that he's in the mix.

.

I think you overestimate how many people actually differentiate Person/office here outside the catholic faith and even there among the people only catholic on paper. "The Pope" might well come up when asking the question a certain way, but it's a person the same way as "the president".
A trivial pursuit question of "who is the current Pope/US President" would definitely have way more people knowing Trump than Francis. (And parts of those that don't know will name a variety of other presidents i guess).

[whomario]

Overall, i think a lot depends on how you measure it and ask the question. Either you do "name X famous people ...." or you go "do you know/ever heard of ?" or even "here is a picture, do you recognise this person ?". Or you look at television numbers/articles/books/airplay or even stuff like google results or Wikipedia articles mentioning them.

As far as historical figures go, evil people might be higher up the list than people would guess. Hitler, Stalin, Mao for example.

It is likely much more diverse nowadays than in earlier times, because while reach is higher as are 'options'.

Muhammad Ali was definitely high up in his time, some of his fights had utterly insane viewership, maybe the most a single event ever had unless you count an entire World Cup or Olympics (esp adjusted for population size of the world). Boxing was incredibly popular across the globe, i am pretty sure across all demographics a larger % of people at least in Europe knew about Ali in his time than, say, Michael Jordan afterwards.

Maybe some royalty also, especially british ?

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by Lathum

The implication was alive or recently alive. Muhamed Ali came up

I think Billy Graham would also fall into that category.

[britrock88]

Xi/Modi, as political leaders of huge nations in that circle.

[Critch]

Her Majesty The Queen.

[sterlingice]

How's Jordan's Q Score these days? In the 90s, it probably would have been him but it's waned a lot since then

SI

[tarcone]

In my world, I am.

[Carman Bulldog]

If we go back within the past 100 years, Gandhi, Einstein, Mandela, Mother Theresa and Elvis have to be in the conversation.

As far as living people, I have to think that Taylor Swift would be near the top, considering her footprint in China and the rest of Asia. I'm thinking she's arguably at least, if not more, famous than some athletes over there (and I assume we are talking fame compared to popularity). Same goes with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who is also pretty well known universally.

[RainMaker]

I still say it is Trump or Obama. Probably Obama since his reach was pretty global.

I know athletes have a lot of popularity but I can't think of a part of the world who would not know who Trump or Obama is. Every possible demographic has to know that, right? My parents wouldn't know who the hell Ronaldo or Messi are.

[Carman Bulldog]

DOLA: Being a sports-centric forum, I'm wondering if we tend to over estimate the fame of athletes beyond the sport spectrum. There are definitely athletes that transcend the sports realm, but those are few and far between. Guys like Pelé, Jordan and Ali come to mind.

If we are speaking of who is more famous (ie. whose name is known by more people) rather than present popularity, I have to think that those three are arguably still ahead of the likes of Kobe, LeBron, Ronaldo, Messi, etc.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I still say it is Trump or Obama. Probably Obama since his reach was pretty global.

I know athletes have a lot of popularity but I can't think of a part of the world who would not know who Trump or Obama is. Every possible demographic has to know that, right? My parents wouldn't know who the hell Ronaldo or Messi are.

That honestly says more about your parents and the bubble they/you live in. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were the two most popular/well know soccer players before Barack Obama was known outside the state of Illinois, let alone outside the USA.