# 100 Greatest Romanians

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.

## Top 10

| No | Name | Occupation |
| 1 | Stephen the Great (1435–1504) | Prince of Moldavia won renown in Europe for his long resistance to the Ottoman Turks. |
| 2 | 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. |
| 3 | Mihai Eminescu (1850–1889) | Late Romantic poet, widely considered to be the most influential Romanian poet. |
| 4 | Mihai Viteazul (1558–1601) | Prince of Wallachia, Prince of Moldavia, Imperial governor of Transylvania, he was the first who managed to unite in personal union the three principalities largely inhabited by Romanians. |
| 5 | Richard Wurmbrand (1909–2001) | Evangelical Christian doctor and educator who spent a total of fourteen years in communist prison. |
| 6 | Ion Antonescu (1882–1946) | Dictator of Romania during World War II |
| 7 | Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) | Researcher and professor of the history of religions, Orientalist and novelist. |
| 8 | 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. |
| 9 | Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957) | Famous modern sculptor. |
| 10 | 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. |

## Full list

* Stephen the Great
* Carol I
* Mihai Eminescu
* Mihai Viteazul
* Richard Wurmbrand
* Ion Antonescu
* Mircea Eliade
* Alexandru Ioan Cuza
* Constantin Brâncuși
* Nadia Comăneci
* Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918–1989) – last communist dictator 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) – founder of the Legionary Movement, the main Romanian fascist movement during the 1930s
* Nicolae Titulescu (1882–1941) – diplomat, president of the League of Nations
* Ferdinand I of Romania (1865–1927) – King of Romania during World War I, who oversaw the creation of "Greater Romania"
* Mihai I (1921–2017) – 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, one of the scientists who developed diabetes treatment with insulin
* Iuliu Maniu (1873–1953) – politician, fought for the national rights of the Romanians of Transylvania
* 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 Romanian revolution in Transylvania
* Burebista (? – 44 BC) – King of Dacia
* Marie of Romania (1875–1938) – Queen of Romania
* Petre Țuțea (1902–1991) – philosopher, Christian-fascist intellectual, victim of the communist regime
* Corneliu Coposu (1914–1995) – liberal 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) – ultranationalist 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 of the communist era
* 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, co-founder of biospeleology 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) – public works, chiefly railway engineer
* Ivan Patzaichin (1949–2021) – 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 (1947–2024 ) – 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)

## Other editions

Other countries have produced similar shows; see Greatest Britons spin-offs