Inspired by Hamlet.

By “person” we mean normal human being. They can be magical like Harry Potter but not magical like Santa Claus.


38 comments

  1. Sweden:
    If you like movies :The whole Skarsgård family, every one knows at least one of them.

    If you like sport: Börje Salming , Björn Borg, Zlatan Ibrahimović

    If you like politic : Greta Tunberg

    If you like music: Avcii, Abba, Jussi Björling, Ghost, Sabaton

    If you like science : Alfred Nobel, Carl von Linné (Linneaus

    Did I miss some one?

    Fictional, I think it is Pippi Longstocking or Lisbeth Salander.

  4. Well… We have a “tough” situation here.

    We have Count Dracula. Everyone knows him, everyone knows he’s Romanian and everyone says he’s a vampire.

    But, despite everything, he was a real person, he lived and breathed the same air as us.

    But except Romanians, no one really knows his real name (Dracula is just a nickname, I have no idea where it even came from)

    So, Dracula is our most internationally famous fictional person.

    And Vlad Țepeș is our most internationally famous real person. Although they are the same person.

  5. I guess Tintin is probably more recognisable than any real Belgians? The Smurfs perhaps even more so, but they aren’t people.

  6. Mr Bean is fictional (not sure if he’s quite as famous as he used to be though). In terms of real people, now Queen Elizabeth II has popped her clogs, I’d say it’s probably David Beckham.

  7. Santa Klaus was a real person, Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra. His relics are in a Dominican Church in Bari, Italy.

  8. EDIT:

    I decided to test this in google trends, since many people sugested new names. I tested: Cervantes, Gasol, Gaudí, Rosalía, Piqué, Nadal, Alonso, El cid, Hernán Cortés, El quixote.

    Nadal is the “all time” winner, of the last 20 years, not even close. Picasso from historical figures.

    Original comment.

    “Recent” famous people:

    Fernando Alonso since F1 has around 500 million fanbase and more people would know him even without being fans just by the memes. I first I thought Rosalía but she has 11 million subscribers I think it’s orders of magnitude lower.

    Excluding recent famous people.

    Either Cervantes or Picasso. I would argue Picasso since people might dislike him but he is easily recognizable. Almost very one knows picasso = “modern art, expensive paintings”.

    Fictional.

    No doubt. El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.

  9. Well, it’s Geralt of Rivia, not Geralt of Poland so I’d say Copernicus, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, John Paul the 2nd or Lewandowski. They are real.

  10. Cillian Murphy is no doubt our biggest movie star and our most famous person in general (sadly Connor McGregor would be second…)

    Famous Irish fictional characters are few, but a lot of those thriller stories set in the United States usually have a main character of Irish descent ( I don’t think it counts, though). There’s probably a more famous character that I’m just not thinking of at the moment.

  11. Pretty sure the little Dutch boy that plugged a dyke is the most famous Dutch “person” and its an American folk tale

  12. Northern Irish here.

    a) Liam Neeson

    b) Maybe Orla from Derry Girls or Rose the Hat from Doctor Sleep? 🤔

  13. A) Our founder Atatürk, singer Tarkan or maybe Salt Bae

    B) I don’t know whether we have a popular fictional character.

  14. Asterix is fictional

    d’Artagnan as well but created after someone real

    Brigitte Bardot was the most famous woman on the planet for a few decades and is still alive

    Marie Curie whom we share with Poland was real

  15. For global reach I’d probably say Shakespeare or, especially over the last twenty years or so, maybe JK Rowling.

  16. One of our sportsmen, Luka Doncic or Jan Oblak maybe. Or Slavoj Žižek if you are more into philosophy.

  17. Probably, at the present time it is Zelenskyy.

    And who could be a fictional character… Do you know someone?

  18. Considering that right now is Dua Lipa and she has Albanian citizenship, yes she is real.

    Mother Teresa was technically born in North Macedonia, even though she is a much bigger deal to us. And before Reddit reddits, [this is relevant](https://www.reddit.com/r/badhistory/comments/gcxpr5/saint_mother_teresa_was_documented_mass_murderer/)

    Skanderbeg is real but he is most popular with EU4 players, even though he is the coolest ever.

    Among footballs fans, the most popular is a cube. Yes, he is real.

    For movie fans, the moron who kidnapped Liam Neeson’s daughter. Thankfully, he is fictional.

  19. Just getting my popcorn and waiting for Serbs and Croatians both claiming Nicola Tesla.

  20. Italy: Julius Caesar/Leonardo da Vinci and Harlequin maybe for fictional characters

  21. It’s Björk. I have no idea. I don’t know what dimension she’s from. Nobody does.

  22. Real: William Wallace. I mean, the guy’s got a whole movie about himself and it has a lot of fans worldwide, despite its inaccuracies. Many people today still consider him as a symbol of fighting for freedom, even if knowledge on the historical man himself is very limited.

    Fictional: Groundskeeper Willie I think. Being from The Simpsons certainly helps his case for popularity, but besides him I would also say the Scotsman from Samurai Jack. Love them both.

  23. Maybe a mix… Guess [A-Ha – Take on Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914) is the most viewed video involving some norwegian on youtube with its 2 billion views. Feautres both a real and a fictional version of the band. The music video was one of the most biggest event of the MTV-generation when it still was music video. Though it’s from 1985 still something you hear all around the world still today played on radio and shows.

  27. A lot of options, but I think it has to be Da Vinci (who, of course, is real). Caesar probably in the conversation as well.

    Most famous fictional Italian probably has to be Mario.

  29. Real: From modern Greece, Giannis Antetokounmpo maybe? I will also say Tom Hanks, because he has greek citizenship lol.

    Fictional: I can’t think of any popular fictional characters from modern Greece so I will just say Zeus, Odysseus, Achilles etc.

  30. Real: I’d say Gareth Bale, given he was the usual reply I got when telling people I’m from Wales after Euro 2016

    Fictional: er, probably cartoon characters like Fireman Sam or SuperTed?

  32. Hans Christian Andersen created a lot of fictional characters such as the ugly duckling and the little mermaid.

    The most famous Dane alive would probably be Mads Mikkelsen.

  33. According to google the most famous Germans are Albert Einstein and Claudia Schiffer. Their two professions couldn’t be further apart

  34. I’d say Cristiano Ronaldo is real. The Ronaldo cult, on the other hand, is *surreal*.

  35. Because of Disney, the Little Mermaid is probably the most “famous” dane.

  36. Being French I’m not sure which is the most internationally famous person, but I’d guess it’s either Napoléon Bonaparte or Edith Piaf, so both we’re real.

  37. I don’t know how famous Karikó Katalin got but I hope she got some international recognition she deserves. I’m biased cuz she was born in the same city as I did

    From the past I’d say Neumann János and Erdős Pál were pretty famous in their field of research.

  38. Has to be Kimi Räikkönen & Mika Häkkinen

    Fictional would be muumipeikko

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