Usually, yes! But I can only speak for the German version of this TV-show. Here you chose the "ERNSTL" Ernst = a name for a man, "Ernest" in AE/BE; by adding an "L" to almost any German noun you can trivialize it. Thus "ERNSTL" does also mean "little Ernst" This is why I know it ^^
But the strategy you mentioned is almost identically here in Germany ^^