# What are the largest known lists you can think of? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096 "2015-05-15T11:09:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/1 "2015-05-15T11:09:41Z")
Many people are interested in various kinds of “lists”. The following are some examples: . names of the world’s countries (there are about 100) . famous people who died during consensual sexual intercourse [JIM GOAD](http://www.jimgoad.net/index.shtml?whattawaytogo) . all known cocktails . people suspected of being Jack the Ripper . worst places to hitchhike . airplane crashes resulting in multiple deaths . people misquoted by Ronald Reagan . breeds of dogs which bite people the most, and the least My question is what lists can you think of that contains the largest number of elements? You don’t have to specify the actual elements. But just estimate their number. I’m curious just what lists you can think of that would contain the largest number of elements. For the purposes of this thread, a list does not count unless the individual elements have been named. So, “a list of all the stars in the universe” would not count since although their number has been estimated, AFAIK, no one has ever tried to name them all (which would result in knowing their exact number). ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/2 "2015-05-15T11:17:20Z")
Probably a census from whichever is the most populous country to have them. A list of hundreds of millions of names and other information. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/3 "2015-05-15T11:17:37Z")
There’s a list of over 660,000 British soldiers (Other Ranks) who died during the Great War. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/4 "2015-05-15T11:30:15Z")
It gets hard to define the line between a list, and a file or database. The Social security administration maintains a list of all people with Social security numbers who have died, for anti-fraud purposes. It’s called the DeathMaster file and has 80 million or so entries. But is that a list? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/5 "2015-05-15T11:57:50Z")
Is a phone book not in fact a printed list? ---
**Author:** ![Cestrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Cestrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cestrian)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/6 "2015-05-15T12:45:25Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > Many people are interested in various kinds of “lists”. The following are some examples: > > . names of the world’s countries (there are about 100) Definitions may vary but there are around double this number of countries. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/7 "2015-05-15T12:48:36Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > . names of the world’s countries (there are about 100) That’s soooo 20th century! The actual number of countries is almost twice that. There’s about 190 recognised countries, and more than a dozen unrecognised or not universally recognised ones. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/8 "2015-05-15T13:19:59Z")
Well there is the list of all lists that does not contain itself. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/9 "2015-05-15T14:03:55Z")
I imagine the list of stars and planets will ever be growing. > **[Minor Planet Names: Alphabetical List](https://minorplanetcenter.net//iau/lists/MPNames.html)** > > We are the official body that deals with > astrometric observations and orbits of minor planets (asteroids) and comets. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/10 "2015-05-15T14:11:16Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > It gets hard to define the line between a list, and a file or database. > The Social security administration maintains a list of all people with Social security numbers who have died, for anti-fraud purposes. It’s called the DeathMaster file and has 80 million or so entries. > > But is that a list? IMHO, a database or file can be considered a list if: 1. There are finitely many elements. E.g. even though the list of integers is [countable](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantor's_diagonal_argument), it is infinite and therefore the elements can’t, even in theory, be printed out on finitely many pieces of paper using a consistent print size and spacing. Printing out a hard copy likewise would be expected to take an infinite amount of time. 2. The elements can be listed in some fairly well defined order. For example, the DeathMaster file _could_ be printed out in numerical order by SSN or in phone-book alphabetic order by name provided that the wannabe printer has enough paper. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/11 "2015-05-15T14:26:24Z")
Sequential digits of pi or lists of prime numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/12 "2015-05-15T16:06:14Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > That’s soooo 20th century! The actual number of countries is almost twice that. There’s about 190 recognised countries, and more than a dozen unrecognised or not universally recognised ones. Oh, way to make me feel like an old man - useless, irrelevant and way past his prime. I’m going to have a good cry now. Cestrian too. You guys have no mercy in your hearts? J J/K BTW 🙂 But if you want to talk about heartless, see if you can guess the real reason I posted this thread? I bet you can do it. There is a good hint contained in my OP. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/13 "2015-05-15T17:56:40Z")
Is it 118? ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/14 "2015-05-15T20:28:52Z")
> [@Gothic](#): > > I imagine the list of stars and planets will ever be growing. > > [Minor Planet Names: Alphabetical List](http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPNames.html) There are only about 20 million directly observed stars. All the others are either too dim, or hidden behind other stars, or too far away and indistinguishable from their surroundings (e.g., stars in other galaxies). Many a country’s census list must be bigger than that. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/15 "2015-05-15T20:42:17Z")
- The list of classical pianists who are better than Lang Lang. - The list of vegetables I refuse to eat. - The list of prince Dirk Blackpool’s enemies (the first volume only includes A through D). Who’s old now? - The ways Roger Rabbit loves Jessica. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/16 "2015-05-16T00:29:12Z")
Does it have to be a physical list, or can it exist in cyberspace? ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/17 "2015-05-16T08:53:07Z")
The largest actively maintained list is probably the inventory list for the British Library or a similar institution. It currently holds about 170 million separate items, with over three million more added each year. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/18 "2015-05-16T08:54:25Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > Is it 118? Yes. Well done, Justin! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/19 "2015-05-16T08:55:37Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Does it have to be a physical list, or can it exist in cyberspace? I think it would be best to allow you to make your own rules for this thread. I would like you to enjoy yourself when you make a post in this thread. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2015, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096/20 "2015-05-16T08:57:09Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > The largest actively maintained list is probably the inventory list for the British Library or a similar institution. It currently holds about 170 million separate items, with over three million more added each year. Wow! That is amazing! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-largest-known-lists-you-can-think-of/720096.md?page=2)