Earnest
Earnest is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 17 births. Its best rank was 106th, in 1900.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 170.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 19261,149 births
- Best rank
- #106in 1900
- Since 1880
- 58,366people given the name
The story in the numbers
58,366 boys have been named Earnest in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1926, with 1,149 births — 0.10% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 17 births in 2024, against 1,149 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1938, and the 1920s alone account for 19%. It has spent 113 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Earnest | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,043 | |
| 1890s | 1,390 | |
| 1900s | 1,907 | |
| 1910s | 6,856 | |
| 1920s | 10,869 | |
| 1930s | 8,722 | |
| 1940s | 8,706 | |
| 1950s | 7,311 | |
| 1960s | 4,515 | |
| 1970s | 2,962 | |
| 1980s | 1,995 | |
| 1990s | 1,053 | |
| 2000s | 559 | |
| 2010s | 364 | |
| 2020s | 114 |
In 1926, its biggest year
Earnest was the 147th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1926 were Robert, John, James, William and Charles. See all of 1926.
Names that rose and fell with Earnest
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Clydepeak 1920
- Floydpeak 1926
- Sylvesterpeak 1920
- Otispeak 1920
- Alviepeak 1921
- Haywoodpeak 1919
- Earlpeak 1921
- Ernestpeak 1921
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.