100 Greatest Romanians
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In 2006, Romanian Television (Televiziunea Română, TVR) conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considered the 100 Greatest Romanians of all time, in a version of the British TV show 100 greatest Britons. The resulting series, Great Romanians (Romanian: Mari Români), included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme. It concluded with a debate. On 21 October, TVR announced that the "greatest Romanian of all time" according to the voting was Stephen the Great.
The list
- Stephen the Great (1435-1504) - prince of Moldavia won renown in Europe for his long resistance to the Ottoman Turks
- Carol I (1839 – 1914) - the first Romanian ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty (1866 - 1914), the first King of Romania (since 1881) after the country acquired full independence under his leadership
- Mihai Eminescu (1850 – 1889) - late Romantic poet, widely considered to be the most influential Romanian poet
- Mihai Viteazul (1558 – 1601) - Prince of Wallachia, he achieved the first union of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia (the three principalities largely inhabited by Romanians)
- Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) - evangelical Christian minister, author and educator who spent a total of fourteen years in communist prison
- Ion Antonescu (1882 – 1946) - the prime minister and leader of Romania during World War II
- Mircea Eliade (1907 – 1986) - researcher and professor of the history of religions, Orientalist and novelist
- Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1820 – 1873) - the first ruler of the United Principalities of Romania after the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859; his reforms started the modernization of Romania
- Constantin Brâncuși (1876 – 1957) - famous modern sculptor
- Nadia Comăneci (1961 – ) - gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event
- Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918 – 1989) - last communist president of Romania
- Vlad Țepeș (1431 – 1476) - Prince of Wallachia
- Gigi Becali (1958 – ) - politician and businessman, football club owner
- Henri Coandă (1886 – 1972) - inventor and aerodynamics pioneer
- Gheorghe Hagi (1965 – ) - football player
- Ion Luca Caragiale (1852 – 1912) - playwright and short story writer
- Nicolae Iorga (1871 – 1940) - historian, writer, and politician
- Constantin Brâncoveanu (1654 – 1714) - Prince of Wallachia
- George Enescu (1881 – 1955) - composer and musician
- Gregorian Bivolaru (1952 – ) - founder of MISA yoga organization
- Mirel Rădoi (1980 – ) - football player
- Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899 – 1938) - leader of a Romanian nationalist movement during the 30s
- Nicolae Titulescu (1882 – 1941) - diplomat, president of the League of Nations
- Ferdinand I of Romania (1865 – 1927) - King of Romania during World War I
- Mihai I (1921 – ) - last King of Romania before communist period
- Decebalus (87 – 106) - last King of Dacia before Roman conquest
- Traian Băsescu (1951 – ) - politician, former President of Romania
- Gheorghe Mureșan (1971 – ) - NBA basketball player
- Ion I. C. Brătianu (1864 – 1927) - liberal politician, Prime Minister of Romania for five terms
- Răzvan Lucescu (1969 – ) football player and football club manager
- Nicolae Paulescu (1869 – 1931) - physiologist, the discoverer of insulin
- Iuliu Maniu (1873 – 1953) - politician
- Iuliu Hossu (1885 – 1970) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
- Emil Cioran (1911 – 1995) - philosopher, writer, and essayist
- Avram Iancu (1824 – 1872) - leader of the 1848 revolution in Transylvania
- Burebista (? – 44 BC) - King of Dacia
- Marie of Romania (1875 – 1938) - Queen of Romania
- Petre Țuțea (1902 – 1991) - philosopher, victim of the communist regime
- Corneliu Coposu (1914 – 1995) - politician, victim of the communist regime
- Aurel Vlaicu (1882 – 1913) - inventor, aviation pioneer
- Iosif Trifa (1888 – 1938) - Eastern Orthodox priest, founder of the "Oastea Domnului" ("Lord's Army") Christian organisation
- Nichita Stănescu (1933 – 1983) - poet and essayist
- Ion Creangă (1837 – 1889) - writer
- Mădalina Manole (1967 – 2010) - pop singer
- Corneliu Vadim Tudor (1949 – 2015) - strongly nationalistic politician, writer and journalist; founder and leader of the Greater Romania party
- Traian Vuia (1872 – 1950) - inventor, aviation pioneer
- Lucian Blaga (1895 – 1961) - poet, playwright, and philosopher
- George Emil Palade (1912 – 2008) - cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1974)
- Ana Aslan (1897 – 1988) - biologist, physician and inventor, the author of essential research in gerontology
- Adrian Mutu (1979 – ) - football player
- Florin Piersic (1936 – ) - theater and film actor
- Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817 – 1891) - politician and historian, first Prime Minister of the United Principalities of Romania
- Iancsi Korossy (1926 – 2013) - jazz pianist
- Dimitrie Cantemir (1673 – 1723) - Prince of Moldavia and prolific man of letters
- Ilie Năstase (1946 – ) - tennis player
- Gheorghe Zamfir (1941 – ) - musician, pan flute player
- Gică Petrescu (1915 – 2006) - musician, folk and pop music composer and singer
- Elisabeta Rizea (1912 – 2003) - anti-communist partisan
- Bulă (fictional) - a stock character of Romanian jokes
- Amza Pellea (1931 – 1983) - theater and film actor
- Matei Corvin (1443 (?) – 1490) - King of Hungary
- Mircea cel Bătrân (1355 – 1418) - Prince of Wallachia
- Titu Maiorescu (1840 – 1917) - literary critic and politician
- Toma Caragiu (1925 – 1977) - theater and film actor
- Mihai Trăistariu (1979 – ) - pop singer
- Andreea Marin (1974 – ) - TV show host
- Emil Racoviță (1868 – 1947) - biologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica
- Victor Babeș (1854 – 1926) - biologist and early bacteriologist, one of the founders of microbiology
- Nicolae Bălcescu (1819 – 1852) - leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution
- Horia-Roman Patapievici (1957 – ) - writer and essayist
- Ion Iliescu (1930 – ) - first President of Romania after the 1989 revolution
- Marin Preda (1922 – 1980) - novelist
- Eugen Ionescu (1909 – 1994) - playwright, one of the initiators of the theatre of the absurd
- Dumitru Stăniloae (1903 – 1993) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian
- Alexandru Todea (1905 – 2002) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
- Tudor Gheorghe (1945 – ) - singer and theater actor
- Ion Țiriac (1939 – ) - tennis player and businessman
- Ilie Cleopa (1912 – 1998) - Eastern Orthodox archimandrite
- Arsenie Boca (1910 – 1989) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian, victim of the communist regime
- Bănel Nicoliță (1985 – ) - football player
- Dumitru Cornilescu (1891 – 1975) - Eastern Orthodox, then Protestant priest, translated the Bible into Romanian in 1921
- Grigore Moisil (1906 – 1973) - mathematician and computing pioneer
- Claudiu Niculescu (1976 – ) - football player
- Florentin Petre (1976 – ) - football player
- Marius Moga (1981 – ) - pop music composer and singer
- Nicolae Steinhardt (1912 – 1989) - writer
- Laura Stoica (1967 – 2006) - pop and rock singer, composer and actress
- Cătălin Hâldan (1976 – 2000) - football player
- Anghel Saligny (1854 – 1925) - engineer
- Ivan Patzaichin (1949 – ) - flatwater canoer who won seven Olympic medals
- Maria Tănase (1913 – 1963) - traditional and popular music singer
- Sergiu Nicolaescu (1930 – 2013) - film director, actor and politician
- Octavian Paler (1926 – 2007) - essayist
- The Unknown Soldier - the Romanian soldier in the national Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
- Ciprian Porumbescu (1853 – 1883) - composer
- Nicolae Covaci (1947 – ) - founder of the Phoenix rock band
- Dumitru Prunariu (1952 – ) - first Romanian cosmonaut
- Iancu de Hunedoara (c. 1387 – 1456) - Voivode of Transylvania, captain-general and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary
- Constantin Noica (1909 – 1987) - philosopher and essayist
- Badea Cârțan (1849 – 1911) - a shepherd who fought for the independence of the Romanians of Transylvania (then under Hungarian rule inside Austria-Hungary)
