Earnestine
Feminine form of the English name Ernest, meaning "resolute and serious".
Name Census estimates that about 5,983 living Americans carry the first name Earnestine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Earnestine today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Earnestine births was 1944 (489 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Earnestine. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Although Earnestine is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 61 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Earnestine is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Earnestines were born before 1962.
People living today
6.0K
~ 1 in 57,288 Americans
Peak year
1944
489 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1944 SSA rank
#3,211
Tracked since 1889
Census
Earnestine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,529 people with the first name Earnestine, which placed it at #3,677 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,677
National first-name rank
People counted
5.5K
5,529 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Earnestine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Earnestine is Black at 87.8%. The next largest groups are White (8.7%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Earnestine described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Earnestine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.8% · 4,855
- White8.7% · 482
- Two or more races1.9% · 106
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Earnestine
Out of the 16,133 babies given the name Earnestine since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Earnestine as a male name
- Ranked #3,211 in 1944
- 6 male births in 1944
- Peak: 1937 (10 births)
Earnestine as a female name
- Ranked #14,041 in 2001
- 6 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1944 (483 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Earnestine appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,526 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Earnestine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Earnestine from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 4,404 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Earnestine by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Earnestine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Earnestines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 21 states and territories. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia recorded the most babies named Earnestine, while Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 678 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Earnestine
The name Earnestine originates from the Old French name Ernest, which itself derives from the Germanic name Arnost. Arnost is composed of the elements arn, meaning "eagle," and hrod, meaning "bright" or "famous." Together, these elements create a name that can be interpreted as "bright as an eagle" or "famous like an eagle."
The name Ernest and its variants, including Earnestine, gained popularity during the Middle Ages in Europe. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Earnestine can be found in the 12th century, when a woman named Earnestine de Ribemont was mentioned in historical records from the region of Picardy, France.
In the 13th century, a German noblewoman named Earnestine von Isenburg-Grenzau lived from around 1220 to 1292. She was a member of the influential Isenburg-Grenzau family and played a role in the political affairs of the region during her lifetime.
During the Renaissance period, the name Earnestine was associated with a few notable figures. Earnestine of Bavaria, born in 1551, was a German princess and the daughter of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria. She later became the Archduchess of Austria through her marriage to Ferdinand II, Archduke of Further Austria.
In the 17th century, Earnestine Desmarests, born in 1610, was a French playwright and novelist known for her tragedies and comedies. She was one of the first female writers to achieve recognition in French literature.
Another notable figure was Earnestine Rose, born in 1810 in Poland. She was a Jewish feminist and activist who campaigned for women's rights, especially in the areas of education and equal employment opportunities. Rose emigrated to the United States and continued her activism there, becoming a prominent figure in the American women's rights movement.
While the name Earnestine has been used throughout history, it has traditionally been more common in certain regions, such as parts of Europe and North America. However, the name's rich history and meaning, reflecting qualities of brightness, fame, and strength, have endured across different cultures and time periods.
People
Earnestine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Earnestine as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Earnestine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Earnestine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,983 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Earnestine going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 57,288 US residents.
Is Earnestine a common name?
We classify Earnestine as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,133 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Earnestine most popular?
The single biggest year for Earnestine was 1944, when 489 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Earnestine is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Earnestine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,529 people with the name Earnestine, or 1.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,677 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Earnestine in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Earnestine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Earnestine appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,526 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Earnestine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Earnestine is Black at 87.8%. The next largest groups are White (8.7%) and Two or More Races (1.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Earnestine most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Earnestine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.8% (4,855 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Earnestine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Earnestine a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Earnestine in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Earnestine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Earnestine in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Earnestine can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Earnestine?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.