The Most Famous Man/Woman In The World.

I would say Mick Jagger is well known world wide, they have covered a lot of years and the music is part of our culture now and they have continued to tour?

TwiceAsNice

Jesus Christ

Superstar

Redrobin51

My husband and I were debating and had decided probably it would be Putin. My husband said "ask Alexa". She said "Mmm Lawrence Lewelyn-Bowan". It has took me 10 minutes to stop laughing.

She just told me the same 😂😂😂

I'm sure Lawrence will be very flattered.

David Attenborough.
In the past Attlee who gave us pensions and the NHS.

Alexa is pretty famous herself!
LLFL
And redrobin

Nelson Mandela

Ohh, that's a good one Anniebach 👍🏼

Top choice there.

Thank you volver.

I will never forget that walk from prison 1990

Anniebach

Nelson Mandela

Yes, good choice Anniebach

Possibly the two most famous?

Yes,

He was the only head of state to address her as Elizabeth

She refused to visit S Africa as a stand against apartheid, standing firmly against the position of Margaret Thatcher and the government on sanctions.

I assumed from the wording of the OP that we were talking about the living, not the dead.

M0nica

I assumed from the wording of the OP that we were talking about the living, not the dead.

Yep, and the most famous as opposed to the most worthy!

I assume Churchill, Diana, Pope Benedict, JFK did die

A lot of these choices seem to be very much the most famous in the western world.

I think we are talking about people who transcend nationality.

I would imagine that at the moment, if we judge fame by how many people have heard of him, the most famous man in the world is probably the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. There are 1.4 billion Chinese who know who he is, then most of the population of East Asia, and many in Central Asia, before we even think of the rest of the world.

Even Putin is a distant also-ran compared with him

Grandma70s

A lot of these choices seem to be very much the most famous in the western world.

If we're including people who have died then Mao Zedong?

That is a very good point M0nica. it reminds me that perhaps we ought to look outside our own part of the world more often.

Sorchame

Currently, I would say Elon Musk.

I guess who is most famous to some depends on their age and interests...
My children and grandchildren would definitely have a different name in the hat to me!

I was about to mention Musk.

Much admired - even adored - by... lots of people.

Frankly, I'm getting tired of being condemned for daring to mention that he might have made a mess of Twitter. Because he's RICH don't you know, and you're not - is the answer I always get if I ask a legitimate question .

But, everyone is aware of him, I guess?

Varies according to the seasons I would say. Adam, Moses, the Naz, Julius Caesar, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Einstein, F D Roosevelt, Churchill.....

I thought it was meant to be someone living.

Do bear in mind that the combined populations of India and China is now 2.8 billion, so whoever it is, if they aren't big in those two countries, forget them.

I think they've heard of Elon Musk in China for various reasons.

And India.

But how many of the massed Chinese population have heard of him?