Ernest

What Ernest means

Means “vigor, strife”

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.

Source: Wiktionary, “Ernest” (revision 93817584), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ernest?

US: Steady: #955 in 2015, #1038 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #313 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1895, when 834 boys got the name (#24 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 8,019 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,470 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,806 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NE (0.57 per 1,000 boys), WA (0.34 per 1,000 boys), UT (0.31 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ernest is #1038 in the US and #252 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Ernest were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the UK pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

If you like Ernest

Boys

• Roger#832“fame-spear”^*
• Dustin#728possibly “Thor s stone”^*
• Ronald#637“advice + power”^*
• Robert#92“shining glory”^*
• Frank#513Form of Francis, meaning “Frankish (man); a Frank”^*
• Albert#614“noble + bright, famous”^*

For a sister

• Anne#619Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1959, with 5,745 babies; 472 in 2025
• Linda#902“tender, soft”^*
• Alicia#460Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 7,820 babies; 672 in 2025
• Alison#476“of noble kind”^*
• Robin#704Diminutive of Robert, meaning “shining glory”^*
• Allison#103Form of Elon, meaning “oak tree”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ernest’s. Rank is US 2025.