Derived from Germanic eornost meaning "serious". It was introduced to England by the German House of Hanover when they inherited the British throne in the 18th century, though it did not become common until the following century. The American author and adventurer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was a famous bearer of the name. It was also used by Oscar Wilde for a character in his comedy 'The Importance of Being Earnest' (1895).

A Series of Unfortunate Events characters, authors, Crash Bandicoot characters, Dionne family, Legend of the Galactic Heroes characters, Macross characters, never out of the US top 1000, Xeno characters