How rare is the name Ernest?

114,307 people in the United States have the first name Ernest, about 1 in 2,642. It ranks #492 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ERNEST

#492

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
114,307
About
1 in 2,642
This common or more
58.2%
Who bears it

Of the 114,307 people named Ernest, 57.5% reported their origin as White, 24.1% as Black and 12.6% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Ernest peaked in 1921, when 5,723 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
5,723
In 2025*
213 ▼96%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 304,354 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Ernest by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #79. The largest share of babies named Ernest, 29.3%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#796,727
1890s#947,919
1900s#1098,715
1910s#8737,310
1920s#8654,033
1930s#10539,627
1940s#13941,985
1950s#20039,875
1960s#26927,095
1970s#32716,909
1980s#44911,343
1990s#8226,064
2000s#1,4263,332
2010s#2,0562,211
2020s#2,2341,209
Before 19015.1%
Greatest Generation 1901–2729.3%
Silent Generation 1928–4524.1%
Baby boom 1946–6424%
Generation X 1965–8010%
Millennials 1981–964.8%
Generation Z 1997–121.8%
2013 and later0.9%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Ernest is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Ernest has been most common in New Mexico (2.3×), Rhode Island (2.2×), and South Carolina (2.1×), and least common in Nevada (0.21×).

276,826 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Ernest

#490 Andres · 115,081#491 Elena · 114,540#493 Ramon · 114,143#494 Sonia · 113,726

Spelled almost the same

5 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Ernest, most common first.

#747 Ernesto · 68,243#6,078 Ernst · 2,686#20,104 Ernesta · 517#46,679 Ernes · 142#52,462 Ernist · 107

Also a last name

As a last name, Ernest ranks #7,172 of 156,621, with 4,494 people. See Ernest as a last name

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