# Ernest

Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ernst, meaning "serious", often shortened to Ernie.
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)
* Ernest Guy Amsler (1895–1986), associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court
* 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 Bernea (1905–1990), Romanian sociologist
* 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
* Sir Ernest Marshall Cowell (1886–1971), British surgeon and military officer
* Ernie Cox (1894–1962), Canadian football player
* Ernest Daltroff (1867–1941), French perfumer, and founder of Parfums Caron
* Ernest de Munck (1840–1915), Belgian cellist and composer
* 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
* Ernest Gugenheim (1916–1977), French rabbi
* 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 Johnson (disambiguation), multiple people
* 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 Earl Lockhart (1912-2006), American chemist and explorer
* 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
* Ernest Ailred Worms (1891–1963), German Pallottine missionary, linguist, and anthropologist in Australia
* Ernie Zalejski (1925–2012), American football player

## Fictional characters

* Ernest, one of the title characters of the Belgian-French franchise Ernest & Célestine
* 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 File
* Monsieur Ernest LeClerc, on the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
* 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