In the real world, even though you might be the most famous person alive, there will still be a majority of the united population who don't know who you are or what you've done. You can choose to mingle with those who do, but in this game that would limit you to certain guards and those NPC's who have experienced your usefulness firsthand. But that's just due to the limited amount of NPC's.
On top of that, the children. They don't know who you are because they don't care. When have children cared about advlts who've done good deeds if it wasn't giving them presents? To prove this, ask a child you know if they've heard about Bono. 99% of the time they'll say no.
And don't expect everyone to hand out extreme praise everywhere because you killed a bunch of bandits. You got your bounty, you proved that you can get things done and some people who know this like it. And they tell you.
Now, the Dragonborn issue. It's an old Nord legend. So why should people besides Nords care? Because you can use ancient magic? As far as they care, there's no difference between that and normal magic, which by the way is only good for blowing stuff up.
Those who care think it's awesome that there's a Dragonborn. They hear about it from their neighbor who heard it from a traveler who heard it from a guy in Whiterun who heard it from a guard who heard it from another guard who were at the Western Watchtower when you found out you were one. Now, how do you expect those people to deliver an accurate description of how you look to the next person they tell? Hint; they don't even care about the details, they just want to have something interesting to talk about.
So tough luck. You don't get recognized because you do deeds all over, most which are evenly returned in a way of a normal job. Even if you try to save the world, you only do it in Skyrim. And of course not everyone will hear about it or even care. People are too busy with their own lives.
So play the game for yourself, do deeds for the deed itself, and stop caring about praise received from fictional, programmed characters. In the end, it's not important. Just be glad that at least some recognize you.
EDIT: I put on 75% fire resistance gear, to protect against incoming flames!
