Ernest is a given name derived from the Germanic word ernst, meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie.

Notable people and fictional characters with the name include:

People

<!--- nobility in chronological order, commoners in alphabetical !--->

  • Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
  • Ernest, Margrave of Austria (1027–1075)
  • Ernest, Duke of Bavaria (1373–1438)
  • Ernest, Duke of Opava (c. 1415–1464)
  • Ernest, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1482–1553)
  • Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels (1623–1693)
  • Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1629–1698)
  • Ernest, Count of Stolberg-Ilsenburg (1650–1710)
  • Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (1771–1851), son of King George III of Great Britain
  • Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818–1893), sovereign duke of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
  • Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover (1845–1923)
  • Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal (1846–1925)
  • Ernest Augustus, Prince of Hanover (1914–1987)
  • Prince Ernst August of Hanover (born 1954)
  • Prince Ernst August of Hanover (born 1983)
  • Saint Ernest (died 1148), German abbot
  • Ernest Adams (disambiguation)
  • Ernest Guy Amsler (1895–1986), associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
  • Ernie Anderson (1923–1997), American radio and television announcer
  • Ernie Banks (1931–2015), American baseball player
  • Ernest Benach (born 1959), President of the Catalan parliament
  • Ernest Bernea (1905–1990), Romanian sociologist
  • Ernest Bevin (1881–1951), British Labour politician
  • Ernest Bohr (1924–2018), Danish lawyer, former barrister, and field hockey player
  • Ernest Broșteanu (1869–1932), Romanian general during World War I
  • Ernest Buckmaster (1897–1968), Australian artist
  • Ernest Radcliffe Bond (1919–2003), British police officer and soldier
  • Ernie Bond (footballer) (born 1929), English footballer
  • Ernie Bond (politician) (1897–1984), Australian politician
  • Ernest Borgnine (1917–2012), American actor
  • Ernie Calloway (born 1948), American football player
  • Ernie Cooksey (1980–2008), English footballer
  • Ernest Corea (1932–2017), Sri Lankan Sinhala journalist, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States from 1981 to 1986
  • Sir Ernest Marshall Cowell (1886–1971), British surgeon and military officer
  • Ernie Cox (1894–1962), Canadian football player
  • Ernest S. Croot III (born 1972), American mathematician
  • Ernest Dale (1917–1996), American academic and writer
  • Ernest Daltroff (1867–1941), French perfumer, and founder of Parfums Caron
  • Ernest de Munck (1840–1915), Belgian cellist and composer
  • Ernest Dickerson (born 1951), American director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
  • Ernie DiGregorio (born 1951), American basketball player
  • Ernest Duff (1931-2016), American businessman, lawyer and Mormon bishop
  • Ernie Els (born 1969), South African golfer
  • Ernest Evans (cricketer) (1861–1948), English cricketer who played for Somerset
  • Ernest Evans (politician) (1885–1965), Welsh politician
  • Ernest Everett Just (biologist) (1883-1941), American biologist
  • Ernest E. Evans (1908–1944), officer of the United States Navy in WWII
  • Ernest Peter Arnold Fernando (1919–1957), Sri Lankan Sinhala businessman and mine owner
  • Ernie Fletcher (born 1952), American physician and politician, 60th Governor of Kentucky
  • Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919–1991), American country singer
  • Ernest Gold (composer) (1921–1999), American composer
  • Ernest Gold (meteorologist) (1881–1976), British meteorologist
  • Ernest Gjoka (born 1970), Albanian football coach
  • Ernie Green (born 1938), American football player
  • Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928–1967), Argentine physician, author and Marxist revolutionary
  • Ernest Gugenheim (1916–1977), French rabbi
  • Ernie Harwell (1918–2010), American baseball broadcaster
  • Ernest Haycox (1899–1950), American writer of Westerns
  • Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), American writer
  • Ernest Hendricks, South African politician
  • Ernest George Horlock (1885–1917), English recipient of the Victoria Cross
  • E. W. Hornung (1866–1921), English author and poet
  • Ernie Hughes (born 1955), American football player
  • Ernie Isley (born 1952), American musician, the Isley Brothers
  • Ernest Johnson (disambiguation), multiple people
  • Ernest Jones (disambiguation), multiple people
  • Ernest Juvara (1870–1933), Romanian physician
  • Ernest Koliqi (1903–1975), Albanian writer
  • Ernie Kovacs (1919–1962), American comedian, actor and writer
  • Ernest Krausz (1931–2018), Israeli professor of sociology and President at Bar Ilan University
  • Ernest Lawrence (1901–1958), American nuclear scientist
  • Ernest Lluch (1937–2000), Catalan-Spanish politician
  • Ernest Earl Lockhart (1912-2006), American chemist and explorer
  • Ernest Millington (1916–2009), British politician
  • Ernie Morgan (1927–2013), English football player and manager
  • Ernie Nordli (1912–1968), American animation artist and graphic designer
  • Ernest Perera (1932-2013, Inspector-General of Sri Lanka Police from 1988 to 1993
  • Ernie Phythian (1942–2020), English footballer
  • Ernest Victor Pieris (1926-1991), Sri Lankan Sinhala physician, medical educator, cricketer, and rugby union player
  • Ernest Poruthota (1931–2020), Sri Lankan Sinhala Roman Catholic priest and author
  • Ernest Prakasa (born 1982), Indonesian comedian, stand up performer, writer, and actor
  • Ernie Price (1926–2013), English footballer
  • Ernest Prodolliet (1905-1984), Swiss diplomat
  • Ernst Reuter (1889–1953), German politician and mayor of Berlin
  • Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937), New Zealand chemist and nuclear physicist
  • Ernest Shackleton (1874–1922), Anglo-Irish explorer
  • Ernest de Silva (1887–1957), Sri Lankan philanthropist
  • Ernest (musician) (K. Smith), American country music artist
  • Ernest Spybuck (1883–1949), American Indian autoethnographer
  • Ernest Thayer (1863–1940), American poet
  • Ernest William Tristram (1882-1952), British art historian, artist and conservator
  • Ernest Troubridge (1862–1926), British naval officer
  • Ernest Tubb (1914–1984), American country music singer and songwriter
  • Ernest Veuve (1843–1916), American Civil War soldier
  • Ernest Vinberg (1937–2020), Russian mathematician
  • Ernest Walker (disambiguation)
  • Ernest Walton (1903–1995), Irish physicist and Nobel laureate
  • Ernie Watts (born 1945), American saxophonist
  • Ernie Watts (Small Heath footballer), English footballer
  • Ernie Watts (footballer, born 1872) (1872–1???), English footballer
  • Ernie Wise (1925–1999), stage name of English comedian Ernest Wiseman (1925–1999), Morecambe and Wise
  • Ernest Ailred Worms (1891–1963), German Pallottine missionary, linguist, and anthropologist in Australia
  • Ernie Zalejski (1925–2012), American football player

Fictional characters

<!---alphabetical order, those without surnames first--->

  • Ernest, one of the title characters of the Belgian-French franchise Ernest & Célestine
  • Ernest, the husband of Hilda in the BBC TV play The Obelisk broadcast as an episode of the series Premiere played by Peter Sallis.
  • Ernest, in The Swiss Family Robinson
  • Ernest T. Bass, a recurring character on the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show
  • Ernest Bonhour, one of the main protagonist in the French animated series The Long Long Holiday
  • Ernest Denouement, a character in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
  • Ernest Greeves, a main character from the video game Layton's Mystery Journey and the associated anime Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File
  • Ernest le Vampire , main character form France animated series which is about vampire getting daymares.
  • Monsieur Ernest LeClerc, on the BBC sitcom Allo 'Allo!
  • Dr. Ernest Menville, a main character in Death Becomes Her
  • Ernest Perriclof, one of the main characters in Alexandra Adornetto's The Strangest Adventures series
  • Ernest P. Worrell, main comic character of the series of Ernest films as played by Jim Varney
  • Ernest Worthing, main character in The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde

See also

  • Ern (given name)
  • Ernie, shortened version of Ernest
  • Ernst
  • Ernesto
  • Earnest (disambiguation)

References