Ernst

Where Ernst comes from

Ernst hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1834
    Ernst Haeckel born
    German zoologist
  2. 1838
    Ernst Mach born
    Austrian physicist
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #640 among boys — 9 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1885
    Peak, #411
    19 babies named Ernst — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1886
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #694.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Ernst Haeckel · German zoologist, 1834–1919
  • Ernst Mach · Austrian physicist, 1838–1916
  • Ernst Ruska · German physicist, 1906–1988
  • Ernst Ludwig Kirchner · German painter, sculptor, engraver and printmaker, 1880–1938
  • Ernst Jünger · German writer, 1895–1998

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.