Alternative nickname

[17caterpillars1mouse]

I love Ernest but hate Ernie with a passion. Does anybody know if any alternative nicknames for Ernest. I love just Ernest but feel that if I used it without an alternative nickname he would inevitably become Ernie.

Nesto?
I think the danger will be that others will default to Ernie.

Would Ren work? Bit of a stretch but maybe worth a try. That, or depending on his middle name, you could do something like "EJ" or similar?

Ern? Once again a bit of a stretch - Ernie is very much the default nn for Ernest.

My dad is called Ernest (it's a horrible name in my opinion but very much a 'family' name) and was only ever called Ern until he hit his late 50s and randomly tried to reinvent himself as Ernie.

Ern got misheard as Ian quite a lot so bear that in mind, and he spent quite a lot of his life debating whether to change his name to Ian and just have done with it!

Erno, Ennie, En, Nest, Nesto, Ness, Nessy

Ern, Erno, Enno, Nessy, Ness, Nesty, E, Estie, Esto?

Idk, Ernie is the most common (and therefore probably the most likely...) nickname.

Ren is nice.

Ennie is pretty cute!

I don't think you can always control a nick name , more so at school, so I'd brace yourself for Ernie

Imp? As in The Importance Of Being Earnest...?

I wouldn't shorten Ernest at all!

Would Nate work?

You can't avoid Ern or Ernie. Some of these other nicknames are nothing to do with Ernest.
You can't just make a random name a 'nickname' they evolve naturally.

I’ve got a long classical female name (think Charlotte, Alexandra etc) and there are a couple of obvious shortenings, but my mum’s culture has a shortening that she wanted to use, even though it sounds unrelated to an English-speaker. She aggressively trained everyone I came into contact with as a kid “this is [foreign shortening]/ this is [full name], we call her [shortening]”. And I’ve never been known by the local shortening.

What I’m trying to say, longwindedly, is that if you introduce him as Ernest and shut down any “Ernie” chat, you can probably use your lovely name in full. Obviously at school is a different kettle of fish, among his peers.

I teach and Ernest who is called Ren by everyone and at 4 wouldn’t entertain Ernie because “that’s not my name” - one little boy does call him der-best due to s&L difficulties but it sort of sounds like “the best” so is one of the cutest things ever!

Ernst? Like Ernst and Young?

Ren sounds like a girls name, Wren.

I'd just insist on Ernest. It's was enough to say.