Ernie

What Ernie means

Diminutive of Ernest, meaning “vigor, strife”

diminutive of the male given name Ernest || 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, “Ernie” (revision 94539126) and “Ernest” (revision 93817584), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ernie?

US: Falling: down from #4295 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #485 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1945, when 381 boys got the name (#304 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 94,893 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,971 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 6,547 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 TX (0.03 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Ernie is #5208 in the US and #321 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 Ernie were boys.

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

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the US pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Arnie14 US · 97 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ernie

Boys

• John#23possibly “God is gracious”^*
• Richard#234“king, ruler + hard, brave”^*
• Kenneth#294“handsome”^*
• Timothy#203“to honour + god”^*
• Eric#273Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1970, with 23,571 babies; 1,256 in 2025
• Michael#21“who is like God?”^*

For a sister

• Sara#198Variant of Sarah, meaning “masters, princes”^*
• Sarah#90“masters, princes”^*
• Elizabeth#17“my God is an oath”^*
• Ashley#164“ash tree + wood, clearing”^*
• Rachel#250“ewe”^*
• Mary#125Same root as Miriam, possibly meaning “bitter”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ernie’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.