Ernest

Oscar Wilde made the joke that the name Ernest is the only one that inspires absolute confidence, and the joke works because it's also true: the name means exactly what it says, from the German Ernst, seriousness and resolve, and carries its meaning on its face the way few names do. Hemingway then took the name into the wilderness and the bullfighting ring and the war, and the combination of Wilde's wit and Hemingway's myth gave Ernest something no popularity chart can manufacture — a literary double life.

It peaked in the United States in the early twentieth century and has been in gradual retreat since, which puts it in the same position today as Walter and Arthur occupied a decade ago: old enough to be interesting, quiet enough not to crowd anyone, ready for exactly the sort of understated revival that suits it. Two syllables, the second barely stressed, the whole name arriving with the composure of someone who doesn't need to raise his voice. Ernest pairs effortlessly with surnames of any weight; it's the given name that does the anchoring. For parents who want a name that means something specific and sounds like it, Ernest is still delivering on both counts.