The Most Famous People from Nepal
Top 12 of 12 ranked · August 2026 · See today's live standing →
First issue under methodology v5.62. Movement begins with the next issue frozen under the same version.
The Buddha leads Nepal, with a mountaineer and a rapper premier behind him
iFAMOUS Editorial Desk · 1 min read
Siddhartha Gautama tops the August 2026 list of people from Nepal at 13.2, followed by Nirmal Purja and Balen Shah.
The most famous person from Nepal in the world for August 2026 was born around two and a half thousand years ago. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, scores 13.2 at the top of the list, and the standard reading, which places everyone on one scale, has no trouble ranking him above a living mountaineer and a sitting prime minister.
Nirmal Purja, the climber who reset the limits of high-altitude speed, is second at 11.5. Balen Shah, the structural engineer and rapper who has been Prime Minister since March 2026, is third at 10.0. Manisha Koirala, one of the most respected actresses in 1990s Indian cinema, is fourth at 7.3. Those three, along with two other Everest names further down, are the whole of Nepal's non-political fame.
Politics holds six of the twelve places. Gyanendra, the last King of Nepal, is fifth. K. P. Sharma Oli, prime minister three times and most recently until March 2026, is sixth. Sushila Karki, the first woman to serve as Chief Justice, is seventh, Ram Chandra Paudel, President since March 2023, eighth, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Prachanda, ninth. The mountains return at tenth and eleventh with Lhakpa Sherpa, who has summited Everest eleven times, more than any other woman, and Kami Rita, whose 32 ascents are the world record. Amrita Acharia, the British actress of Nepalese and Ukrainian roots known from Game of Thrones, closes the list.
Twelve people measured, eleven living. The one dead name is the one on top, and he is likely to stay there.
| Rank | Name | Score | Live |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  The Buddha celebrity | 13.2 | iFANN → |
| 2 |  Nirmal Purja celebrityAlive | 11.5 | iFANN → |
| 3 |  Balen Shah politicianAlive | 10.0 | iFANN → |
| 4 |  Manisha Koirala celebrityAlive | 7.3 | iFANN → |
| 5 |  Gyanendra of Nepal politicianAlive | 6.9 | iFANN → |
| 6 |  K. P. Sharma Oli politicianAlive | 6.6 | iFANN → |
| 7 |  Sushila Karki politicianAlive | 6.5 | iFANN → |
| 8 |  Ram Chandra Paudel politicianAlive | 6.3 | iFANN → |
| 9 |  Pushpa Kamal Dahal politicianAlive | 5.6 | iFANN → |
| 10 |  Lhakpa Sherpa celebrityAlive | 4.3 | iFANN → |
| 11 |  Kami Rita celebrityAlive | 3.6 | iFANN → |
| 12 |  Amrita Acharia celebrityAlive | 3.5 | iFANN → |
About this list
This list ranks people from Nepal by their overall worldwide fame rather than local attention, as assessed for August 2026: the top 12 of 12 names, frozen as the permanent record of that edition. This is the standard reading: everyone, living or dead, on one scale. 11 of the 12 listed are living; the Alive reading restricts the same ranking to living people.
The Buddha is No. 1 on this list for August 2026. Behind The Buddha come Nirmal Purja and Balen Shah.
What famous means here
Fame, in iFAMOUS, is how widely the world knows a name: how recognisable a person's name, face or work is, and how well people know who they are. It is assessed from extensive historical and current public data, some of it reaching back more than twenty years, and it is not merit, talent, importance or popularity on iFANN. The rankings model real-world global fame, not internet fame; the data is the instrument, not the subject. Activity on iFANN itself is excluded.
The month in the title is the date of this edition, not the period measured. The list is a snapshot of overall fame as it stood when the issue was frozen: a name does not lose its place because one month was quiet, and a trending moment alone does not put a name here. Trending attention is published separately on ifann.net.
How the list was ranked
The iFANN Global Fame Rankings combine worldwide Wikipedia readership across languages, worldwide news coverage and search interest anchored against stable reference names, with search history reaching back to 2004. A twelve-month baseline sits behind the current reading and short-lived surges are capped, so the list reflects durable recognition rather than one week of headlines. Rankings are computed daily on ifann.net and frozen on the second day of the following month as that month's issue; a published issue never changes.
About Nepal
Nepal is one of the countries and regions the journal ranks every month. Country lists use the same rankings and the same scale as The 100, so a name can be compared with its neighbours and against the world.
Powered by iFANN
iFAMOUS is published by iFANN and powered by the iFANN Global Fame Rankings v5.62. Today's live standing for this list is on ifann.net; the journal freezes it once a month so it can be cited permanently.
Related searches: most famous people in Nepal 2026, top celebrities in Nepal August 2026, Nepal fame ranking, most famous person in Nepal.
"The Buddha, No. 1 on The Most Famous People from Nepal", iFAMOUS No. 1 (August 2026), ifamous.org