Ernst
Recorded 1880–2021 · United States
Ernst was most popular in 1917, when 59 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,687 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,383 people named Ernst.
Ernst over time
How old is the name Ernst?
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Ernst is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 132 of the 146 years since.
How many people are named Ernst?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 2,383 American births named Ernst between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 904 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named Ernst in 2025?
Ernst was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Is Ernst getting more or less popular?
Ernst is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 5 births a year across 2021–2025 against 6 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Is Ernst a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record Ernst is a boy’s name — 0.0% of the 2,383 Americans given it were girls and 100.0% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named Ernst?
Roughly 904 Americans named Ernst are alive today — 38% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 55 years old, and half are between 39 and 70. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Where Ernst is most concentrated
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
Explore further
See Ernst on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org