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, son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
- Ernest, Margrave of Austria
- Ernest, Duke of Bavaria
- Ernest, Duke of Opava
- Ernest, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
- Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Rheinfels
- Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg
- Ernest, Count of Stolberg-Ilsenburg
- Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover, son of King George III of Great Britain
- Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, sovereign duke of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover
- Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal
- Ernest Augustus, Prince of Hanover (1914–1987)
- Prince Ernst August of Hanover (born 1954)
- Prince Ernst August of Hanover
- Saint Ernest, German abbot
- Ernest Adams (disambiguation)
- Ernest Guy Amsler, associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
- Ernie Anderson, American radio and television announcer
- Ernie Banks, American baseball player
- Ernest Benach, President of the Catalan parliament
- Ernest Bernea, Romanian sociologist
- Ernest Bevin, British Labour politician
- Ernest Bohr, Danish lawyer, former barrister, and field hockey player
- Ernest Broșteanu, Romanian general during World War I
- Ernest Buckmaster, Australian artist
- Ernest Radcliffe Bond, British police officer and soldier
- Ernie Bond (footballer), English footballer
- Ernie Bond (politician), Australian politician
- Ernest Borgnine, American actor
- Ernie Calloway, American football player
- Ernie Cooksey, English footballer
- Ernest Corea, Sri Lankan Sinhala journalist, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States from 1981 to 1986
- Sir Ernest Marshall Cowell, British surgeon and military officer
- Ernie Cox, Canadian football player
- Ernest S. Croot III, American mathematician
- Ernest Dale, American academic and writer
- Ernest Daltroff, French perfumer, and founder of Parfums Caron
- Ernest de Munck, Belgian cellist and composer
- Ernie DiGregorio, American basketball player
- Ernest Duff, American businessman, lawyer and Mormon bishop
- Ernie Els, South African golfer
- Ernest Evans (cricketer), English cricketer who played for Somerset
- Ernest Evans (politician), Welsh politician
- Ernest Everett Just, American biologist
- Ernest E. Evans, officer of the United States Navy in WWII
- Ernest Peter Arnold Fernando, Sri Lankan Sinhala businessman and mine owner
- Ernie Fletcher, American physician and politician, 60th Governor of Kentucky
- Tennessee Ernie Ford, American country singer
- Ernest Gold (composer), American composer
- Ernest Gold (meteorologist), British meteorologist
- Ernest Gjoka, Albanian football coach
- Ernie Green, American football player
- Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Argentine physician, author and Marxist revolutionary
- Ernest Gugenheim, French rabbi
- Ernie Harwell, American baseball broadcaster
- Ernest Haycox, American writer of Westerns
- Ernest Hemingway, American writer
- Ernest Hendricks, South African politician
- Ernest George Horlock, English recipient of the Victoria Cross
- E. W. Hornung, English author and poet
- Ernie Hughes, American football player
- Ernie Isley, American musician, the Isley Brothers
- Ernest Johnson (disambiguation), multiple people
- Ernest Jones (disambiguation), multiple people
- Ernest Juvara, Romanian physician
- Ernest Koliqi, Albanian writer
- Ernie Kovacs, American comedian, actor and writer
- Ernest Krausz, Israeli professor of sociology and President at Bar Ilan University
- Ernest Lawrence, American nuclear scientist
- Ernest Lluch, Catalan-Spanish politician
- Ernest Earl Lockhart, American chemist and explorer
- Ernest Millington, British politician
- Ernie Morgan, English football player and manager
- Ernie Nordli, American animation artist and graphic designer
- Ernest O. Lawrence, American physicist
- Ernest Perera, English footballer
- Ernest Victor Pieris, Sri Lankan Sinhala physician, medical educator, cricketer, and rugby union player
- Ernest Poruthota, Sri Lankan Sinhala Roman Catholic priest and author
- Ernest Prakasa, Indonesian comedian, stand up performer, writer, and actor
- Ernie Price, English footballer
- Ernest Prodolliet, Swiss diplomat
- Ernst Reuter, German politician and mayor of Berlin
- Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand chemist and nuclear physicist
- Ernest Shackleton, Anglo-Irish explorer
- Ernest de Silva, Sri Lankan philanthropist
- Ernest (musician), American country music artist
- Ernest Spybuck, American Indian autoethnographer
- Ernest Thayer, American poet
- Ernest William Tristram, British art historian, artist and conservator
- Ernest Troubridge, British naval officer
- Ernest Tubb, American country music singer and songwriter
- Ernest Veuve, American Civil War soldier
- Ernest Vinberg, Russian mathematician
- Ernest Walker (disambiguation)
- Ernest Walton, Irish physicist and Nobel laureate
- Ernie Watts, American saxophonist
- Ernie Watts (Small Heath footballer), English footballer
- Ernie Watts (footballer, born 1872), English footballer
- Ernie Wise, stage name of English comedian Ernest Wiseman, Morecambe and Wise
- Ernest Ailred Worms, German Pallottine missionary, linguist, and anthropologist in Australia
- Ernie Zalejski, 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 Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki FileErnest le Vampire, 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