Earnest History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Germany

Early Origins of the Earnest family

The surname Earnest was first found in Hampshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, having prevailed over King Harold, granted most of Britain to his many victorious Barons. It was not uncommon to find a Baron, or a Bishop, with 60 or more Lordships scattered throughout the country. These he gave to his sons, nephews and other junior lines of his family and they became known as under-tenants. They adopted the Norman system of surnames which identified the under-tenant with his holdings so as to distinguish him from the senior stem of the family. After many rebellious wars between his Barons, Duke William, commissioned a census of all England to determine in 1086, settling once and for all, who held which land. He called the census the Domesday Book, 1 indicating that those holders registered would hold the land until the end of time. Hence, conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Winton, held by Waleran Hunter of the Venables family in Normandy who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086.

Early Lancashire records show Robert Herneys as holding lands there in the 13th century and later, Phelipot Herneys was found in Bedfordshire in 1337. 2

Early History of the Earnest family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Earnest research. Another 155 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1068, 1100, 1327, 1510, 1535 and 1600 are included under the topic Early Earnest History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Earnest Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Ernies, Erneys, Ernes, Hernes, Hernies, Ernyes, Hernis, Herneys, Ernest, Earnest, Harneys, Harney, Herneys and many more.

Early Notables of the Earnest family

More information is included under the topic Early Earnest Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Earnest Ranking

In the United States, the name Earnest is the 4,754^th most popular surname with an estimated 7,461 people with that name. 3

Earnest migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Earnest name or one of its variants:

Earnest Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Matthias F Earnest, who arrived in Maryland in 1813 4
John Earnest, who landed in Virginia in 1887 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Earnest (post 1700) +

Major-General Herbert Ludwell Earnest (1895-1970), American Commanding General 90th Division, North-West Europe (1945) 5
Gray L. Earnest (b. 1957), former American football wide receiver
Woodall Earnest (b. 1959), American composer
Matthew Earnest (b. 1969), American theater director
Conrad Earnest, retired American soccer goalkeeper
William Earnest, American politician, Candidate for Representative from Alabama in the Confederate Congress 2nd District, 1861 6
James H. Earnest, American Democratic Party politician, Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Wisconsin, 1860, 1876 6
Felix W. Earnest, American Democratic Party politician, Postmaster at Knoxville, Tennessee, 1856-57 6
Edwin B. Earnest, American politician, U.S. Vice Consul in Manchester, 1929; Edinburgh, 1932 6
E. T. Earnest, American politician, Mayor of Highland Park, Texas, 1953-54 6
... (Another 2 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Generals of World War II. (Retrieved 2012, January 24) Herbert Earnest. Retrieved from http://generals.dk/general/Earnest/Herbert_Ludwell/USA.html
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 7) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html