Ernest — #1083 US boys' name

What the Data Says About Ernest

The Social Security Administration has registered 302,282 babies named Ernest between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Ernest currently holds the #1083 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1921, when 5,697 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Ernest performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 53,653 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Ernest shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Texas, which accounts for 19,403 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by California and New York. In total, SSA state-level files list Ernest in 51 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Ernest in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 302,282 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.