Who's Who Explained

Who's Who (or Who is Who) is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of notable persons. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication Who's Who, a reference work on contemporary prominent people in Britain published annually since 1849.

Notable examples by country

• Who's Who, the oldest listing of prominent British people since 1849; people who have died since 1897 are listed in Who Was Who.
• Cambridge Who's Who (also known as Worldwide Who's Who), a vanity publisher based in Uniondale, New York.
• Marquis Who's Who, a series of books published since 1899 by Marquis, primarily listing prominent American people, but including Who's Who in the World.
• Who's Who in New Zealand, twelve editions published at irregular intervals between 1908 and 1991
• Canadian Who's Who, a listing of prominent Canadians since 1910
• Who's Who in Switzerland, published from 1953 to 1996 and then Swiss Who's Who, a listing of prominent Swiss or leading figures living in Switzerland since 2015^[1]
• Who's Who in Australia, a listing of prominent Australians since 1923
• Who's Who in France, a listing of prominent French or people living in France since 1953
• Who's Who in Scotland, a listing of prominent Scots since 1986
• Who's Who, by Metron Publications, a listing of prominent Greeks since 1992
• Who's Who of Southern Africa, published in paper form until 2007 when it was replaced by a website

Non-English publications

Some Who's Who books have a title in the language of the country concerned:

• Croatian: Tko je tko u Hrvatskoj, bilingual edition (1993)
• Danish: Kraks Blå Bog (since 1910) annually
• Finnish: Kuka kukin on (since 1909) at first irregularly, every fourth year since 1970
• German: Wer ist's? (1905–1935) and (since 1951) almost annually
• German: for East Germany: ^[2]
• Japanese: Nihon Tarento Meikan (Talent Who's Who in Japan), a listing of Japanese celebrities, or tarentos, since 1970
• Lithuanian: (Who's Who in Lithuania), a listing of prominent Lithuanians and business companies since 1995.^[3]
• Norwegian: Hvem er Hvem? (since 1912) 14 editions in the 20th century
• Serbian: Koje ko u Serbiji, (1991), previously Koje ko u Jugoslaviji^[4]
• Swedish: Vem är det (since 1912) every second year

Specialised publications

• International Who's Who by Europa Publications, a Taylor and Francis imprint
• Who's Who Among American High School Students listing what it deems to be American high school and college students who particularly excel in the realm of academic achievement. The publishing company closed in 2007.
• Who's Who in American Art, a listing of prominent American artists
• Who's Who in British History
• Who's Who in the CIA, a book published in East Berlin in 1968 with the assistance of the KGB and the HVA purporting to reveal the identities of thousands of CIA officers.
• Who's Who in the DC Universe a listing of DC Comics characters
• Who's Who in the Theatre, published in Britain and the US from 1912 to 1982

Other publications and scams

The title "Who's Who" is in the public domain, and thousands of Who's Who compilations of varying scope and quality (and similar publications without the words "Who's Who") have been published by various authors and publishers. Some publications have been described as scams; they list any people likely to buy the book, or to pay for inclusion, with no criterion of genuine notability.^[5] They may offer vanity awards^[6] or expensive trophies.^[7]

One example was the Who's Who Among American High School Students which was criticized for questionable nomination practices as well as whether the listing's entries are fact-checked and accurate.^{[8] [9]} According to the admissions vice president of Hamline University, "It's honestly something that an admissions officer typically wouldn't consider or wouldn't play into an admissions decision," adding that "Who's Who... is just trying to sell books".

Who's Who publications are not all of questionable value, but publishers that select truly notable people and provide trustworthy information on them are hard to identify. A & C Black's Who's Who is the canonical example of a legitimate Who's Who reference work, being the first to use the name and establish the approach in print, publishing annually since 1849. However, the longevity of a publication is not in itself a guarantee. In 1999 Tucker Carlson said in Forbes magazine that Marquis Who's Who, founded in 1898 but no longer an independent company, had adopted practices of address harvesting as a revenue stream, undermining its claim to legitimacy as a reference work listing people of merit.^[10] A 2005 New York Times article observed that the entries in Marquis Who's Who were "not uniformly fact-checked".^[11]

See also

• Biographical dictionary
• Hinterland Who's Who, a series of 60-second public service ads profiling Canadian animals and birds, produced by Environment Canada in the 1960s
• Kdo byl kdo (Czech: "Who was who?")

Notes and References

1. News: Le retour du "Who's who" suisse après vingt ans d'absence. Le Temps. 11 May 2015. 31 October 2015. 18 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171018072631/https://www.letemps.ch/lifestyle/2015/05/11/retour-who-s-who-suisse-apres-vingt-ans-absence. dead.
2. Web site: Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur | Recherche | Biographische Datenbanken . Stiftung-aufarbeitung.de . 7 February 2016.
3. Web site: Kas yra kas Lietuvoje 2018. www.kasyrakas.lt. 20 June 2021. 9 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210309194100/http://www.kasyrakas.lt/. dead.
4. Book: Mannix . M.K. . Burchsted . F. . Guide to Reference in Genealogy and Biography . American Library Association . 2015 . 978-0-8389-1295-9 . 2 September 2023 . 276.
5. Web site: Who's Who Directory Scams: With vanity publishers, fame and honors can cost you a small fortune . Sid . Kirchheimer . . 25 December 2021.
6. Web site: Oh, you won an award? Don't click that vanity scam spam link. Gewirtz. David. ZDNet. 9 March 2020. 27 October 2021.
7. News: That 'Who's Who' invite aims at your ego — and your wallet: Plain Dealing. Harris. Sheryl. The Plain Dealer. 12 January 2019. 27 October 2021 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20211027152649/https://www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/2013/02/a_whos_who_invite_may_not_be_t.html . 27 October 2021 .
8. Web site: Yvonne Zanos: What's what with Who's Who . 5 December 2005 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070307225146/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05340/617803.stm . 7 March 2007 . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
9. Web site: dead . Student Questions 'Who's Who' Directory . https://web.archive.org/web/20100112112842/http://wcco.com/topstories/Who.s.Who.2.354309.html . 12 January 2010 . WCCO . 3 January 2006 . Terri . Gruca .
10. Carlson . Tucker . Tucker Carlson . 8 March 1999 . The Hall of Lame . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090414142434/http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/1999/0308/063.html . 14 April 2009 . 14 October 2019 . . en . 0015-6914 . Who's Who in America ... appears to contain a lot of relatively unaccomplished people who simply nominated themselves. To make the process of self-promotion easier, Reed Elsevier, the publication's parent company and the owner of Lexis-Nexis, now has a site on the Internet where would-be biographees can complete a 'biographical data form.' . Tucker1999 .
11. News: Hamilton . William L. . 13 November 2005 . Who Are You? Why Are You Here? . en-US . The New York Times . 12 April 2022 . 0362-4331.