Ernest

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

• 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

• 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 '
• ' , 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