Erna

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ერნა in GE Georgia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 10 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Erna is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Indonesian given name64K records spelled Erna4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Erna, Ernä

• Russian given name16K records spelled Erna25 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Czechia

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Czech

  Also written Эрна, Ерна, Èrna, Ėrna

• French given name12K records spelled Erna3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Belgium, Netherlands

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Êrnä

• a separate given name1.7K records spelled Erna2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway

  Also written Ėrna

58 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Erna is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Erna är ursprungligen en smekform till Ernesta, Ernestina, som är femininformer till → Ernst. I den rikssvenska almanackan 2 mars och i den finlandssvenska 20 september.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In French, Abréviation germanique de prénoms en Ern-/Irn-, lié à ermin « entier ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, Féminin bref d’Ernest, du germ. *ernst* « sérieux, ferme ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In English, Teutonic; wise

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• In German, weibl. Vom., Kurzform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 120 years between 1880–2021. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Erna Morenab. 1885DEGerman actress (1885-1962)
• Erna Sackb. 1898DEGerman singer (1898-1972)
• Erna Bergerb. 1900DEoperatic singer
• Erna Sellmerb. 1905DEGerman actress (1905-1983)
• Erna Hamburgerb. 1911CHSwiss engineer (1911-1988)
• Erna Sanderb. 1914DEGerman costume designer (1914-1991)
• Erna Schneider Hooverb. 1926USAmerican mathematician
• Erna Waßmerb. 1933DEGerman actress (1933–2016)
• Erna Schürerb. 1942ITItalian actress
• Erna Solbergb. 1961NOPrime Minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 797 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Erna?

We estimate roughly 17 thousand people bear Erna (counting its spellings and scripts) across 14 countries in our records.

In which country does Erna have the most bearers?

Erna is most frequently recorded in Germany, where it is most often spelled erna.

Where is Erna most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Erna is densest in Iceland — about 1 in 322 people — even though Germany holds more of our records for it.

How common is Erna compared with other names?

In Germany, Erna is the 435th most common given name of 154,506 given names recorded there.

Is Erna a male or female name?

Erna is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Erna mean?

Recorded meaning: Simplified version of Ernesta, created as a feminine form of jErnest.