Namesakes
Austrian Chancellors and Presidents:
1 chancellor
(chancellor) Ernst Streeruwitz 1929 
German Chancellors and Presidents:
1 chancellor
(chancellor) Willy Brandt (middle name Ernst) 1969-1974
Nobel Prize Winners:
1 chemistry, 1 literature, 1 medicine, 1 peace, 1 physics
(medicine) Ernst Chain 1945
(literature) John Steinbeck (middle name Ernst) 1962
(peace) Willy Brandt (middle name Ernst) 1971
(chemistry) Ernst Otto Fischer 1973
(physics) Ernst Ruska 1986
Notable Activists and Revolutionaries:
1 revolutionary
(revolutionary) Ernst Thälmann 1886-1944
Notable Actors and Entertainers:
2 actors, 1 presenter
Richard Dix (a.k.a. Ernst) 1893-1949
Thorsten Kaye (middle name Ernst) 1966-
Ernst-Paul Hasselbach 1966-2008
Notable Artists:
1 painter
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 1880-1938
Notable Athletes:
1 chess, 1 soccer
(chess) Adolf Anderssen (middle name Ernst) 1818-1879
(soccer) Ernst Happel 1925-1992
Notable Filmmakers:
2 directors, 1 director/screenwriter
Ernst Lubitsch 1892-1947
Ernst Marischka 1893-1963
Wim Wenders (a.k.a. Ernst) 1945-
Notable Philosophers and Thinkers:
1 mathematician
Ferdinand Minding (a.k.a. Ernst) 1806-1885
Notable Politicians and Statespeople:
2 politicians
Ernst Thälmann 1886-1944
Ernst Hirsch Ballin 1950-
Notable Scientists and Inventors:
3 physicists, 1 biologist, 1 inventor, 1 physician
Werner von Siemens (a.k.a. Ernst) 1816-1892
Ernst Haeckel 1834-1919
Ernst Mach 1838-1916
Ernst Abbe 1840-1905
Adolf von Strümpell (a.k.a. Ernst) 1853-1925
Ernst Ruska 1906-1988
Notable Writers:
4 authors
E. T. A. Hoffmann (a.k.a. Ernst) 1776-1822
Ernst Jünger 1895-1998
John Steinbeck (middle name Ernst) 1902-1968
Hoimar von Ditfurth (middle name Ernst) 1921-1989
Olympic Medalists:
4 bronze, 2 silver, 1 gold
(gold) Ernst Hoppenberg 1900 swimming - 200 m backstroke; swimming - 200 m team
(bronze) Ernst Schultz 1900 400 m
(bronze) Ernst Fast 1900 marathon
(silver) Ernst Wide 1912 3000 m team
(bronze) Göte Hagström (a.k.a. Ernst) 1948 3000 m steeplechase
(bronze) Ernst Larsen 1956 3000 m steeplechase
(silver) Ernst-Joachim Küppers 1964 swimming - 4x100 m medley relay
Other Royalty:
9 princes, 1 prince consort
Ernst Casimir of the Netherlands 1822 Netherlands
Georg of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1826-1902 Prussia
Louis-Philippe of Belgium (middle name Ernst) 1833-1834 Belgium
Waldemar of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1868-1879 Prussia
Friedrich Heinrich of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1874-1940 Prussia
Joachim Albrecht of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1876-1939 Prussia
Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1880-1925 Prussia
Wilhelm of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1882-1918; 1882-1951 German Empire; Prussia
Friedrich Leopold of Prussia (middle name Ernst) 1895-1959 Prussia
Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (middle name Ernst) 1901-1934 Netherlands
Pulitzer Award Winners:
1 literature
(literature) John Steinbeck (middle name Ernst) 1940 The Grapes of Wrath
Swedish Prime Ministers:
1 prime minister
Ernst Trygger 1923-1924
Swiss Presidents:
4 presidents
Ernst Brenner 1901; 1908
Ernst Wetter 1941
Ernst Nobs 1949
Ernst Brugger 1974