Ernie
An English diminutive form of the German name Ernest, meaning "serious" or "resolute".
Name Census estimates that about 11,159 living Americans carry the first name Ernie. It is a predominantly male name (95.9% of registrations). The average person named Ernie today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ernie births was 1959 (455 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ernie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ernie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ernie is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 714 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,716 Americans
Peak year
1959
455 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,247
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ernie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,714 people with the first name Ernie, which placed it at #2,112 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
#2,112
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
12,714 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ernie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ernie is White at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.7%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Ernie 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 Ernie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.6% · 6,555
- Hispanic or Latino30.7% · 3,907
- Black or African American8.0% · 1,022
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.5% · 700
- Two or more races2.3% · 288
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 242
Gender
Gender distribution for Ernie
Ernie leans heavily male at 95.9% of total registrations, but 714 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ernie as a male name
- Ranked #6,247 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1959 (450 births)
Ernie as a female name
- Ranked #6,252 in 1967
- 6 female births in 1967
- Peak: 1919 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ernie leans strongly male. 12,439 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 280 female bearers (2.2%).
Popularity
Ernie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ernie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 3,449 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ernie 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 Ernie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ernies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Ernie, while Montana, Massachusetts, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 312 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ernie
The name Ernie is a diminutive form of the Germanic name Ernest, which is derived from the Old High German words "arn" meaning "eagle" and "nest" meaning "vigor" or "power". It essentially translates to "eagle's nest" or "strong as an eagle". The name Ernest gained popularity during the Middle Ages and was widely used across various regions of Europe, particularly in England, Germany, and France.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ernie was Ernie of Swabia, a German nobleman who lived in the 11th century. He was a prominent figure in the Swabian dynasty and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Holy Roman Empire during that time period.
In the 12th century, the name Ernie appeared in the epic poem "Nibelungenlied", which is considered one of the most important works of medieval German literature. The character Ernie was portrayed as a loyal and courageous knight who fought alongside the legendary hero Siegfried.
During the Renaissance period, Ernie became a popular name among the nobility and upper classes in various European countries. One notable figure was Ernie Anselme, a French explorer and cartographer who lived in the 16th century. He was known for his detailed maps and accounts of his travels throughout the Americas.
In the 19th century, the name Ernie gained further popularity due to the influence of the English writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). His literary works, such as "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Farewell to Arms", brought widespread recognition to the name and helped to solidify its place in modern culture.
Another famous individual with the name Ernie was Ernie Pyle (1900-1945), an American journalist and war correspondent during World War II. He is renowned for his poignant and humanistic reporting on the experiences of ordinary soldiers on the front lines, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1944.
Other notable figures throughout history who bore the name Ernie include Ernie Banks (1931-2015), an American baseball player and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame; Ernie Hudson (born 1945), an American actor best known for his roles in films like "Ghostbusters" and "The Crow"; and Ernie Wise (1925-1999), an English comedian and actor who formed a popular comedic duo with Eric Morecambe.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ernie
People
Ernie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ernie 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
Ernie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ernie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,159 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ernie 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 30,716 US residents.
Is Ernie a common name?
We classify Ernie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,215 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ernie most popular?
The single biggest year for Ernie was 1959, when 455 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ernie is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ernie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,714 people with the name Ernie, or 4.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,112 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 Ernie 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 Ernie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ernie leans strongly male. 12,439 people counted with this name were male (97.8%), compared with 280 female bearers (2.2%). 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 Ernie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ernie is White at 51.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (30.7%) and Black (8.0%). 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 Ernie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ernie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.6% (6,555 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 Ernie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ernie a male name?
Yes, 95.9% of people registered as Ernie in the SSA data are male. 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 Ernie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ernie 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 Ernie 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 Ernie?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Ernie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.