Ernest

Ernest is a boy's and girl's baby name of Germanic origin, from the Old High German Ernust, meaning "vigor" or "earnestness." The name was brought to Britain by the Hanoverian royal family in the 18th century, spreading through the English-speaking aristocracy.

Ernest was a top-20 U.S. boys' name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) gave it comic immortality, while Ernest Hemingway gave it literary gravitas. It practically vibrates with integrity — the kind of name that's ripe for a serious revival in a world tired of invented names.