Who's Who

{{Short description|Reference work on prominent people}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}{{About||the United Kingdom publication|Who's Who (UK)|the album by John Scofield|Who's Who? (album)|the Canadian band|Christopher and Philip Booth}}

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A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field.{{Cite OED|term=Who's Who|id=8355712770|access-date=2024-12-05}}{{Cite MW|who's who|access-date=2024-12-05}}{{Cite Collins Dictionary|who's who|access-date=2024-12-05}} 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{{cite news|title = Le retour du "Who's who" suisse après vingt ans d'absence|url = http://www.letemps.ch/lifestyle/2015/05/11/retour-who-s-who-suisse-apres-vingt-ans-absence|newspaper = Le Temps|date = 2015-05-11|access-date = 2015-10-31|archive-date = 2017-10-18|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171018072631/https://www.letemps.ch/lifestyle/2015/05/11/retour-who-s-who-suisse-apres-vingt-ans-absence|url-status = dead}}
  • 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 {{in lang|fr}}
  • 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

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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 {{Interlanguage link|Wer ist wer?|de}} (since 1951) almost annually
  • German: for East Germany: {{Interlanguage link|Wer war wer in der DDR?|de}}{{cite web|url=http://www.stiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html |title=Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur | Recherche | Biographische Datenbanken |website=Stiftung-aufarbeitung.de |access-date=2016-02-07}}
  • Japanese: Nihon Tarento Meikan (Talent Who's Who in Japan), a listing of Japanese celebrities, or tarentos, since 1970
  • Lithuanian: {{ill|Who's Who in Lithuania|lt=Kas yra kas Lietuvoje|lt|Kas yra kas Lietuvoje}} (Who's Who in Lithuania), a listing of prominent Lithuanians and business companies since 1995.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kasyrakas.lt/|title=Kas yra kas Lietuvoje 2018|website=www.kasyrakas.lt|access-date=2021-06-20|archive-date=2021-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309194100/http://www.kasyrakas.lt/|url-status=dead}}
  • Norwegian: Hvem er Hvem? (since 1912) 14 editions in the 20th century
  • Serbian: Koje ko u Serbiji, (1991), previously Koje ko u Jugoslaviji{{cite book | last1=Mannix | first1=M.K. | last2=Burchsted | first2=F. | title=Guide to Reference in Genealogy and Biography | publisher=American Library Association | year=2015 | isbn=978-0-8389-1295-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qsPVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA276 | access-date=2023-09-02 | page=276}}
  • Swedish: Vem är det (since 1912) every second year

Specialized publications

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.{{cite web | url=https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-10-2012/beware-the-whos-who-directory-scam.html | title=Who's Who Directory Scams: With vanity publishers, fame and honors can cost you a small fortune | first=Sid | last=Kirchheimer | publisher=AARP | access-date=2021-12-25}} They may offer vanity awards{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/oh-you-won-an-award-dont-click-that-vanity-scam-spam-link/|title=Oh, you won an award? Don't click that vanity scam spam link|last=Gewirtz|first=David|work=ZDNet|date=2020-03-09|accessdate=2021-10-27}} or expensive trophies.{{cite news|url=https://www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/2013/02/a_whos_who_invite_may_not_be_t.html|title=That 'Who's Who' invite aims at your ego — and your wallet: Plain Dealing|last=Harris|first=Sheryl|work=The Plain Dealer|date=2019-01-12|access-date=2021-10-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027152649/https://www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/2013/02/a_whos_who_invite_may_not_be_t.html |archive-date=2021-10-27 }}

One example is the defunct 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05340/617803.stm |title=Yvonne Zanos: What's what with Who's Who |date=2005-12-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307225146/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05340/617803.stm |archive-date=2007-03-07 |website=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette}}{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://wcco.com/topstories/Who.s.Who.2.354309.html |title=Student Questions 'Who's Who' Directory |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112112842/http://wcco.com/topstories/Who.s.Who.2.354309.html |archive-date=2010-01-12 |website=WCCO |date=2006-01-03 |first1=Terri |last1=Gruca }} According to Steve Bjork, an 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." He suggested that Who's Who was "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.{{cite magazine |last1=Carlson |first1=Tucker |author-link1=Tucker Carlson |date=1999-03-08 |title=The Hall of Lame |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/1999/0308/063.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090414142434/http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/1999/0308/063.html |archive-date=2009-04-14 |access-date=2019-10-14 |magazine=Forbes |language=en |issn=0015-6914 |quote=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.' |ref=Tucker1999 }}{{obsolete source|date=March 2024}} A 2005 New York Times article observed that the entries in Marquis Who's Who were "not uniformly fact-checked".{{Cite news |last=Hamilton |first=William L. |date=2005-11-13 |title=Who Are You? Why Are You Here? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/fashion/sundaystyles/who-are-you-why-are-you-here.html |access-date=2022-04-12 |issn=0362-4331}}

See also

References

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