Given name & surname
Earnest
“one who is sincere and determined; serious”
In English use, Earnest has a related form in Ernest. One English interpretation is “one who is sincere and determined; serious.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
In English use, Earnest has a related form in Ernest. One English interpretation is “one who is sincere and determined; serious.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
In English use, Earnest has a related form in Ernest. Ernest has been associated with Germanic and Old High German naming traditions.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Earnest through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 59,115
- 58,389 boys · 726 girls
- Most popular year
- 1926
- 1,159 babies
- 2025
- 25
- #4,164 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −26%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 25 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 4,164 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 26.5% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 1,149 in 1926. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 16,573 as a first name in 2020; 7,614 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Earnest’s family of names
In English usage, Earnest has a diminutive in Earnie. In English usage, Earnest shares a linguistic root with Ernest. In English usage, Earnest has a related form in Ernest.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Earnest
- Earnie StewartAmerican soccer playerborn 1969
- Earnest HootonAmerican anthropologist (1887–1954)
- Earnest BynerAmerican football playerborn 1962
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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