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🌙 Very RareBoy nameGermanic

Ernest

“Serious, resolute”

2 syllables · 6 letters

About the name Ernest

Wilde built an entire comedy on the gap between the name and the virtue, and the joke has kept Ernest alive in the culture long after it left the charts. Behind the pun sits a genuinely muscular Germanic word for resolve, plus a bearer who walked across Antarctica.

Ernest is a boy name of Germanic origin, pronounced UR-nist. On the NameRarity scale it scores 78 out of 100, which places it in the very rare band — a genuinely uncommon pick — most people have never met anyone with this name. Its strongest period was the 1910s.

Associated with
sincerebraveold-fashionedsteadfast

Name facts at a glance

Meaning
Serious, resolute
Origin
Germanic
Gender
Boy
Pronunciation
UR-nist
Syllables
2
Letters
6
US rank
Outside top 1000
Peak era
1910s
Rarity
78 / 100
Per million
~7.6
Starts with
E
Numerology
9 · The Humanitarian

How popular is Ernest?

Popularity22/100
Rarity78/100

Ernest currently falls outside the US top 1,000, which is a large part of why it scores so highly for rarity. Roughly 7.6 people per million carry it — about 1 in 131,579. In a school of 1,000 pupils you would expect not to find a single one.

Famous people named Ernest

  • Ernest Hemingway
    American novelist and Nobel laureate
  • Ernest Shackleton
    Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer
  • Ernest Rutherford
    New Zealand physicist who split the atom

Spellings and variants of Ernest

ErnstErnestoEarnest

Names similar to Ernest

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Conrad

KON-rad

Bold counsel

Germanic69% rare
Very Rare

Godfrey

GOD-free

Peace of God

Germanic86% rare
Ultra Rare

Leopold

LEE-uh-pold

Bold people, brave leader

Germanic93% rare
Very Rare

Wendell

WEN-dul

Wanderer, of the Wends

Germanic81% rare
Very Rare

Angad

UN-gud

Armlet or bracelet worn on the upper arm, and the vanara prince of the Ramayana

Sanskrit87% rare
Ultra Rare

Anselm

AN-selm

God's helmet

Germanic94% rare
Very Rare

Boris

BOR-iss

Battle, to fight

Slavic87% rare
Rare

Bruno

BROO-noh

Brown

Germanic60% rare
Browse all 1,284 names →

Ernest — frequently asked questions

What does the name Ernest mean?

Ernest means "Serious, resolute". It is a name of Germanic origin, most often given to a boy.

How do you pronounce Ernest?

Ernest is pronounced UR-nist, with 2 syllables.

How rare is the name Ernest?

Ernest scores 78 out of 100 on the NameRarity scale, which makes it very rare. Roughly 1 in every 131,579 people carry it — about 7.6 per million.

What is the numerology number for Ernest?

Ernest carries the expression number 9, known as The Humanitarian. Its soul urge number is 1 and its personality number is 8.

What is the lucky number and lucky colour for Ernest?

The lucky number for Ernest is 9 (with 18, 27, 36 also favourable), and its lucky colour is Coral Flame. The traditional lucky day is Tuesday and the associated gemstone is Bloodstone.