According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "earnest" means "seriousness, as opposed to jest or play." If you've read this play, you know that it is entirely in "jest" and never serious. Thus, we see Wilde using the name "Ernest" in an ironic way. The man going by "Ernest" is, of course, Jack, and his act of deceit is not "earnest" at all. Rather than exemplifying honesty and sincerity, Jack spins lies.
When Gwendolen says, "My ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. There is something in that name that inspires absolute confidence," we see that she loves the idea of the name, not the person who has the name. When Gwendolen adds, "The moment Algernon first mentioned to me that he had a friend called Ernest, I knew I was destined to love you," we see the superficiality of Gwendolen's "affections" for Jack.
Her reasons for loving Jack are absurd; they are the equivalent to saying, "I love people who wear baseball caps" and then falling in love with the next person you see wearing the aforementioned baseball cap. The idealistic romanticism you mention is Wilde's way of poking fun at the social rituals we enact during courtship. Gwendolen and Cecily have whimsical ideas about the qualities their future lovers will have. These ideas are shaped by what society has deemed "admirable" in a partner.
Yet—as we see as the play unfolds—these ideas rest on shallow traits. Because of Gwendolen's desire to be with a man named Ernest, she ultimately finds herself with a man who has proven himself to be a liar and a trickster. Wilde mocks Victorian society here, exposing the emptiness of its values and the hypocrisy of its standards.
In Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest, dramatic irony arises from the use of the name Ernest.
At the beginning of the play, two friends, Jack and Algernon, are enjoying tea together. Jack admits that he goes by Jack in certain settings and Ernest in others, as he has a made-up younger brother named Ernest.
Algernon states that he "always suspected [Jack] of being a confirmed and secret Bunburyist." As Algernon explains, "Bunbury" is a fictional invalid that Algernon cares for. Whenever Algernon needs an excuse to take a vacation, he cites his ailing friend Bunbury as the reason. Whoever invents such a character is, likewise, a "Bunburyist." Jack is a Bunburyist because he has invented a brother named Ernest.
Shortly, Jack woos Gwendolen, who loves him simply because she thinks his name is Ernest. Then, Algernon goes to visit Jack's relations, assuming the identity of Jack's (fictitious) brother, Ernest. Jack's young aunt, Cecily, falls in love with Algernon (alias Ernest). Like Gwendolen, she loves him for being Ernest.
The irony is that each man calls himself "Ernest," a play on the word "earnest," which means "open or honest." The idealist lovers are enamored with the name, because they naively conclude that a man named Ernest will be frank and genuine. Of course, assuming a false identity is deceptive. Thus, the men called Ernest are not truly earnest at all.
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