Baby name
FADING
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Earnest
/ER · nest/
Meaning
“Vigor or battle to the death”
Variant spelling of Ernest, from Old High German Ernust meaning vigor or battle to the death. The Earnest spelling was used in Victorian England; Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest made it famous.
Nicknames
none
Vibe
gentle
How it ages.
Antique and literary; the variant spelling adds a charming old-world quality.
The cultural moment.
Used in the US and UK in the 19th and early 20th centuries; rare but feeling vintage-ready.