Ernest
2025 SSA
Below 5 births
About Ernest
Ernest is one of those sober, so-far-out-they're-beginning-to-be-reconsidered Great Uncle names. Ernest recently received a big style boost when Britain's Princess Eugenie chose it for her second son.
Ernest was a Top 40 name from 1880 to 1926, and despite trending downward from there, hung onto the Top 1000 until 2019. But we may see the rise of Ernest again before long.
Ernest is probably the only name a whole play was based on—Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest—in which one character says, "There is something in that name that seems to inspire absolute confidence. I pity any poor woman whose husband is not called Ernest."
The most famous bearer of the name is novelist Ernest Hemingway—unless you want to count Bert's friend Ernie.
Changing the spelling to Earnest makes it a male virtue name.
Ernest is also given to girls.
Pronounced ER-nest.
As of October 2026, Ernest ranked #1040 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #21 in 1885, Nameberry popularity #381.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank · boys | Births · boys | US rank · girls | Births · girls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #878 | 247 | — | 0 |
| 2015 | #956 | 216 | — | 0 |
| 2016 | #977 | 210 | — | 0 |
| 2017 | #951 | 219 | — | 0 |
| 2018 | #965 | 215 | — | 0 |
| 2019 | #1,057 | 193 | — | 0 |
| 2020 | #1,009 | 208 | — | 0 |
| 2021 | #1,107 | 187 | — | 0 |
| 2022 | #1,131 | 186 | — | 0 |
| 2023 | #1,030 | 212 | — | 0 |
| 2024 | #1,083 | 200 | — | 0 |
| 2025 | #1,040 | 213 | — | 0 |
World rankings
Ernest for boys
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Ernest.
Ernest on lists
Famous Ernests
- Saint ErnestBoy
German abbot of Zwiefalten
- Ernest AugustusBoy
King of Hanover; son of George III of the U.K.
- Ernest Miller HemingwayBoy
American novelist (he said himself that he hated the name because of the connection to the play The Importance of Being Earnest)
- Ernest I (born Ernst Anton Karl Ludwig Herzog)Boy
Duke of Saxe,Coburg and Gotha; father of Britain's Prince Albert
- Ernest II (born Ernst August Karl Johann Leopold Alexander Eduard)Boy
Duke of Saxe,Coburg and Gotha; brother of Prince Albert
- Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino)Boy
American actor
- Ernest RutherfordBoy
New Zealand,born physicist and Nobel laureate
- Ernest Henry ShackletonBoy
English Antarctic explorer
- AmedeeBoy
Ernest Chausson, French composer
- Ernest "Ernie" BanksBoy
American baseball player
- Ernest Jennings Ford aka Tennessee Ernie FordBoy
American country music singer
- Ernest Edward "Ernie" KovacsBoy
American actor/comedian
- Ernest Dale TubbBoy
American country music singer
- Ernest Thomas Sinton WaltonBoy
Irish physicist and Nobel laureate
- Ernest Rupert Atholl DeakinBoy
brother of singer Louis Tomlinson
Ernest in pop culture
- Ernest P WorrellBoy
main character in the Ernest film series
- ErnestBoy
a main character in comic strip "Frank and Ernest" by Bob Thaves
- Ernest T. BassBoy
character on TV's The Andy Griffith Show
- Ernest DenouementBoy
character in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Ernest LeClercBoy
character on British TV series 'Allo 'Allo!
- Ernest B. RaykesBoy
character in Pixar's Cars
- Ernest BaldwinBoy
character in the video game Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
- Ernest AmanoBoy
character from "Ace Attorney"
- MaxBoy
Ernest, character in the "Secret" book series
- Ernest PerriclofBoy
character in Alexandra Adornetto's The Strangest Adventures series
- ErnestBoy
name adopted by Jack Worthing (whose real name [spoiler] is actually Ernest) and Algernon Montcrieff in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest