Given name
Ernesta
“one who is sincere and determined; serious”·“one who is determined; serious”
In English use, Ernesta is a feminine form of Ernest. One English interpretation is “one who is sincere and determined; serious.” Ernesta is a variant of Ernestina. In German use, Ernestina carries the interpretation “one who is determined; serious.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
In English use, Ernesta is a feminine form of Ernest. One English interpretation is “one who is sincere and determined; serious.” Ernesta is a variant of Ernestina. In German use, Ernestina carries the interpretation “one who is determined; serious.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
In English use, Ernesta is a feminine form of Ernest. Ernest has been associated with Germanic and Old High German naming traditions.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
From Italian Ernesta, built from English Ernest + -a.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1915. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Ernesta through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 244
- 0 boys · 244 girls
- Most popular year
- 1918
- 13 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 1981. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 13 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 517 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Ernesta’s family of names
In German usage, Ernesta has a short form in Erna. Ernesta is a feminine form of Ernest. In German usage, Ernesta has a related form in Ernestine.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 6
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Ernesta
- Ernesta Legnani BisiItalian painter and engraver (1788-1859)
- Ernesta SternFrench salon-holder and novelist1854–1926
- Ernesta Di CapuaItalian botanist (1875-1943)
- Ernesta Bittanti BattistiItalian writer (1871–1957)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
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