Ernest

Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ernst, meaning "serious". 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)
 * 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 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 1981-1986
 * Ernie Cox (1894–1962), Canadian football player
 * Ernest Daltroff (1867–1941), French perfumer, and founder of Parfums Caron
 * 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
 * Ernie Harwell (1918–2010), American baseball broadcaster
 * Ernest Haycox (1899–1950), American writer of Westerns
 * Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961), American writer
 * 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 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 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 O. Lawrence (1901–1958), American physicist
 * Ernest Perera (1932-2013, Inspector-General of Sri Lanka Police from 1988-1993
 * 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
 * Ernie Zalejski (1925–2012), American football player
 * Ernest Umeike (born 1978), Nigerian entrepreneur

Fictional characters

 * Ernest T. Bass, a recurring character on the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show
 * Ernest Denouement, a character in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
 * Monsieur Ernest LeClerc, on the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
 * Ernest P. Worrell, main comic character of the series of Ernest films as played by Jim Varney
 * Ernest B. Raykes, in the film Cars
 * Ernest, one of the title characters of the Belgian-French franchise Ernest & Célestine
 * Ernest, in The Swiss Family Robinson
 * Ernest Worthing, main character in The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde
 * Ernest Perriclof, one of the main characters in Alexandra Adornetto's The Strangest Adventures series
 * Ernest Greeves, a main character from the video game Layton's Mystery Journey and the associated anime Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File
 * Ernest Otter, the father of Peanut, Baby Butter and Jelly Otter in "PB&J Otter"
 * Ernest Bonhour, one of the main protagonist in the French animated series The Long Long Holiday
 * Ernie, Muppet character on the TV show "Sesame Street", roommate to Bert