# Ernest (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/ernest/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “vigor”, “strife” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɜː(ɹ)nɪst/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Ernie, Ern |
| Variant spellings | Earnest |
| US babies named this | 304,354 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 302,499 / 1,855 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 2,502, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed in the 18th century from Ernst, a medieval royal name in Germany, from Old High German ernust (“vigor, strife”), only remotely related to modern German ernst or English earnest.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 16 | 4,013 |
| 1977 | 16 | 4,282 |
| 1978 | 7 | 7,871 |
| 1979 | 18 | 4,092 |
| 1980 | 17 | 4,381 |
| 1981 | 9 | 6,961 |
| 1982 | 14 | 5,011 |
| 1983 | 11 | 5,931 |
| 1984 | 11 | 6,022 |
| 1985 | 9 | 7,131 |
| 1986 | 10 | 6,757 |
| 1987 | 7 | 9,073 |
| 1988 | 9 | 7,904 |
| 1989 | 10 | 7,614 |
| 1991 | 10 | 8,160 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 253 | 847 |
| 2012 | 223 | 923 |
| 2013 | 217 | 934 |
| 2014 | 247 | 878 |
| 2015 | 216 | 956 |
| 2016 | 210 | 977 |
| 2017 | 219 | 951 |
| 2018 | 215 | 965 |
| 2019 | 193 | 1,057 |
| 2020 | 208 | 1,009 |
| 2021 | 187 | 1,108 |
| 2022 | 186 | 1,131 |
| 2023 | 213 | 1,028 |
| 2024 | 202 | 1,077 |
| 2025 | 213 | 1,040 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 63 | 557 |
| 2012 | 109 | 382 |
| 2013 | 91 | 440 |
| 2014 | 102 | 397 |
| 2015 | 149 | 313 |
| 2016 | 150 | 320 |
| 2017 | 182 | 283 |
| 2018 | 144 | 326 |
| 2019 | 167 | 290 |
| 2020 | 153 | 301 |
| 2021 | 153 | 305 |
| 2022 | 171 | 270 |
| 2023 | 162 | 283 |
| 2024 | 152 | 296 |
| 2025 | 185 | 252 |

## In other languages

- Bulgarian: Eрне́ст
- Catalan: Ernest
- Chinese: 歐內斯特 /欧内斯特
- Czech: Arnošt
- Danish: Ernst
- Dutch: Ernst
- Esperanto: Ernesto
- Finnish: Ernesti, Erno
- French: Ernest
- German: Ernst
- Greek: Ερνέστος
- Hungarian: Ernő
- Irish: Earnán
- Italian: Ernesto
- Latin: Ernestus
- Latvian: Ernests
- Lithuanian: Ernestas
- Norwegian: Ernst
- Polish: Ernest
- Portuguese: Ernesto

## People named Ernest

- Ernest Hemingway, American author and journalist (1899–1961)
- Ernest Lawrence, American nuclear physicist (1901–1958)
- Ernest Renan, French philosopher and writer (1823–1892)
- Ernest Borgnine, American actor (1917–2012)
- Ernest Shackleton, Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer (1874–1922)
- Ernest Bevin, British labour leader, politician, and statesman (1881-1951)
- Ernest Gellner, Czech anthropologist, philosopher and sociologist
- Ernest Solvay, Belgian chemist, industrialist, philanthropist (1838-1922)
- Ernest Thompson Seton, British/American author, artist and naturalist, and one of the founders of the scouting mo
- Ernest, Duke of Austria, Duke of Austria (1377-1424)
- Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1784-1844)
- Ernest Chausson, French composer (1855–1899)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.