Who is the fairest of them all? Sorry Snow White, but Cinderella is by far the favorite classic princess according to Google Ngrams, which samples published books to deliver relative frequency of phrases:

These three favorite princesses are today most associated with their mid-century Walt Disney films

- and each film gave a big bump to its respective heroine: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, Cinderella in 1950, and Sleeping Beauty in 1959. But the Disney films are only part of each princess' story - as can be seen by the enormous rise in Cinderella's popularity at the beginning of the century.

Cinderella is the oldest fairytale, dating to 9th century China (if not to antiquity), and was recomposed by French author Charles Perrault in his 1697 Tales of Mother Goose - which also included a version of Sleeping Beauty. The Brothers Grimm gave all three princesses their own special German folklore treatment in their 1812 Fairy Tales.

Several silent Cinderella films and one Cinderella Laugh-o-Gram Cartoon fueled Cinderella's rise at the beginning of the century. The 1922 cartoon (that you can watch here) was created by a tiny Kansas City studio led by a 21-year old animator named Walt Disney - years before he gave birth to the Mouse on a train ride to California. While Cinderella may be the fairest of them all, I am sure she is well aware of who's boss:

Perhaps all is not lost for Sleeping Beauty. A new trailer for Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie has just been released - there is a chance for the sleeping Princess to wake up yet!

Info We Trust is a data adventure exploring how to better humanize information. To learn more read the opening post here. The creator, RJ Andrews, is an engineer and proud Northeastern University and MIT graduate. Please reach out through facebook, twitter @infowetrust, or the contact page.