Ernesto
Ernesto was given to 272 boys in 2025, #878 among boys’ names; 44,816 Americans have been recorded with it since 1889 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 37,900 Americans named Ernesto and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (85% of everyone recorded); the median is 34 years old and half are between 22 and 48.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ernesto by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ernesto mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ernesto is “a male given name from Spanish.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ernesto?
#878 among boys’ names, 2025
Ernesto fell from #638 in 2015 to #878 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.22 to 0.16 per 1,000.
854 babies in 2003, the peak
Ernesto peaked in 2003, when 854 boys were given it, #335 among boys’ names. The 272 births of 2025 are 32% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 272 | #878 | 0.16 |
| 2024 | 265 | #891 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 271 | #868 | 0.16 |
| 2022 | 279 | #863 | 0.16 |
| 2021 | 257 | #893 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 293 | #792 | 0.17 |
| 2019 | 304 | #773 | 0.17 |
| 2018 | 330 | #727 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 346 | #707 | 0.19 |
| 2016 | 363 | #685 | 0.19 |
Every recorded year (125)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 415 | #638 | 0.22 |
| 2014 | 405 | #650 | 0.21 |
| 2013 | 392 | #627 | 0.21 |
| 2012 | 478 | #545 | 0.25 |
| 2011 | 531 | #493 | 0.28 |
| 2010 | 529 | #491 | 0.28 |
| 2009 | 589 | #463 | 0.30 |
| 2008 | 721 | #411 | 0.35 |
| 2007 | 730 | #403 | 0.35 |
| 2006 | 793 | #378 | 0.39 |
| 2005 | 804 | #368 | 0.40 |
| 2004 | 818 | #348 | 0.41 |
| 2003 | 854 | #335 | 0.43 |
| 2002 | 853 | #324 | 0.44 |
| 2001 | 848 | #328 | 0.44 |
| 2000 | 792 | #346 | 0.40 |
| 1999 | 835 | #328 | 0.43 |
| 1998 | 807 | #335 | 0.42 |
| 1997 | 797 | #330 | 0.42 |
| 1996 | 774 | #334 | 0.41 |
| 1995 | 777 | #329 | 0.41 |
| 1994 | 817 | #317 | 0.42 |
| 1993 | 814 | #323 | 0.42 |
| 1992 | 847 | #312 | 0.42 |
| 1991 | 821 | #314 | 0.41 |
| 1990 | 822 | #310 | 0.40 |
| 1989 | 779 | #306 | 0.39 |
| 1988 | 758 | #300 | 0.40 |
| 1987 | 623 | #331 | 0.33 |
| 1986 | 638 | #319 | 0.35 |
| 1985 | 630 | #319 | 0.34 |
| 1984 | 609 | #318 | 0.34 |
| 1983 | 641 | #307 | 0.36 |
| 1982 | 640 | #306 | 0.35 |
| 1981 | 692 | #291 | 0.39 |
| 1980 | 645 | #306 | 0.36 |
| 1979 | 556 | #328 | 0.32 |
| 1978 | 563 | #316 | 0.34 |
| 1977 | 549 | #331 | 0.33 |
| 1976 | 557 | #317 | 0.36 |
| 1975 | 503 | #339 | 0.32 |
| 1974 | 483 | #348 | 0.31 |
| 1973 | 463 | #359 | 0.30 |
| 1972 | 449 | #372 | 0.28 |
| 1971 | 503 | #359 | 0.28 |
| 1970 | 453 | #380 | 0.24 |
| 1969 | 392 | #403 | 0.22 |
| 1968 | 406 | #385 | 0.23 |
| 1967 | 345 | #410 | 0.20 |
| 1966 | 354 | #399 | 0.20 |
| 1965 | 357 | #414 | 0.19 |
| 1964 | 377 | #416 | 0.19 |
| 1963 | 366 | #420 | 0.18 |
| 1962 | 367 | #418 | 0.18 |
| 1961 | 284 | #476 | 0.13 |
| 1960 | 356 | #425 | 0.17 |
| 1959 | 336 | #438 | 0.16 |
| 1958 | 321 | #437 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 338 | #423 | 0.16 |
| 1956 | 317 | #423 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 265 | #457 | 0.13 |
| 1954 | 233 | #474 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 261 | #441 | 0.13 |
| 1952 | 269 | #422 | 0.14 |
| 1951 | 243 | #433 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 278 | #404 | 0.16 |
| 1949 | 263 | #420 | 0.15 |
| 1948 | 240 | #431 | 0.14 |
| 1947 | 202 | #473 | 0.11 |
| 1946 | 194 | #456 | 0.12 |
| 1945 | 179 | #444 | 0.13 |
| 1944 | 160 | #477 | 0.12 |
| 1943 | 146 | #515 | 0.10 |
| 1942 | 164 | #480 | 0.12 |
| 1941 | 124 | #529 | 0.10 |
| 1940 | 122 | #529 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 141 | #481 | 0.13 |
| 1938 | 117 | #540 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 103 | #568 | 0.10 |
| 1936 | 139 | #478 | 0.13 |
| 1935 | 130 | #504 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 146 | #468 | 0.14 |
| 1933 | 114 | #535 | 0.11 |
| 1932 | 126 | #512 | 0.12 |
| 1931 | 142 | #474 | 0.14 |
| 1930 | 168 | #457 | 0.15 |
| 1929 | 146 | #487 | 0.14 |
| 1928 | 143 | #507 | 0.13 |
| 1927 | 119 | #566 | 0.11 |
| 1926 | 138 | #517 | 0.12 |
| 1925 | 119 | #570 | 0.11 |
| 1924 | 129 | #553 | 0.11 |
| 1923 | 131 | #531 | 0.12 |
| 1922 | 105 | #630 | 0.10 |
| 1921 | 105 | #621 | 0.10 |
| 1920 | 77 | #748 | 0.07 |
| 1919 | 95 | #619 | 0.10 |
| 1918 | 61 | #845 | 0.06 |
| 1917 | 60 | #825 | 0.06 |
| 1916 | 57 | #826 | 0.06 |
| 1915 | 49 | #884 | 0.06 |
| 1914 | 36 | #913 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 34 | #824 | 0.07 |
| 1912 | 29 | #819 | 0.07 |
| 1911 | 18 | #765 | 0.08 |
| 1910 | 12 | #946 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 14 | #770 | 0.09 |
| 1908 | 9 | #970 | 0.06 |
| 1907 | 5 | #1,397 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 7 | #1,044 | 0.05 |
| 1905 | 8 | #946 | 0.06 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,263 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 11 | #650 | 0.10 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,095 | 0.05 |
| 1889 | 6 | #910 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ernesto a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ernesto has been given almost only to boys: 121 girls in 125 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ernesto: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ernesto, and how old are they?
37,900 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 85% of the 44,816 Americans ever recorded as Ernesto. The median Ernesto alive today is 34 years old; half are between 22 and 48.
The 2020 Census counted 68,243 people named Ernesto (112 women and girls, 68,131 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 37,716 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 499 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,740 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 6,760 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,200 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 11,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,160 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ernesto born?
The states with the most babies named Ernesto are California, Texas and Arizona, with 78% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Arizona is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 86 | #384 | 3.0× |
| Texas | 67 | #502 | 3.6× |
| Arizona | 20 | #381 | 3.3× |
| Florida | 15 | #925 | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 8 | #960 | 0.2× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,172 | 0.8× |
| Nevada | 6 | #466 | 1.1× |
| New Mexico | 5 | #383 | 4.2× |
| Washington | 5 | #1,047 | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 5 | #1,158 | 0.1× |
Where Ernesto is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ernesto is most over-represented in New Mexico: since 1910 it was given 4.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ernesto with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ernesto
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ernesto and names like it
- Compare Ernesto and ArmandoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sErnesto peaked in 2003.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ernesto since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Ernesto: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2003The year the most babies were named Ernesto.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Ernesto alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with EMost given first.