# Whence the name 'Sherlock' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414 "2003-05-30T00:56:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/1 "2003-05-30T00:56:28Z")
This thought just popped into my head: where did Sherlock Holmes get his name from? Did Conan Doyle make it up? Is it an actual name in English (or any other language)? Is it possible to name a child Sherlock in todays world without damning them to a lif of teasing? I’m anxiously awaiting the answers to these questions. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/2 "2003-05-30T01:01:27Z")
Excuse me, **life** of teasing. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/3 "2003-05-30T01:08:03Z")
It’s a British surname: SHERLOCK (origin: Gaelic.) From Saor, pronounced as with “h” after the “S,” signifying clear, and loch, a lake, the clear lake. “Originally, Doyle named his detective Sherrinford Holmes, after Oliver Wendell Holmes – and named Holmes’s sidekick Ormand Sacker. But during the three weeks it took to write the story, Doyle renamed the characters: Sherlock Holmes, after a cricket player he had once played against, and Thomas Watson, after Patrick Watson.” from [this site](http://www.metroentertainmentltd.com/library/Biographies.pdf) about Doyle. Life of teasing… YES!! ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/4 "2003-05-30T02:10:21Z")
“Thomas” Watson? “John H. Watson” is the name given at the beginning of _A Study in Scarlet_, and he was called “James” by his wife in one story, but I’ve never heard “Thomas.” Maybe Thomas was an earlier name, but the site you listed doesn’t give any more information. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/5 "2003-05-30T02:31:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t ask \* > \*\*Life of teasing… YES!! \*\* What if you call him Sherrinford? ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/6 "2003-05-30T02:46:14Z")
Thank you! (It appears I should have done a search. On the other hand, now other dopers will know the answer to this without having to do the search themselves). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-the-name-sherlock/178414/7 "2003-05-30T05:53:02Z")
This may be worthless, but I remember a final _Jeopardy!_ question once giving Sherlock Holmes’s original name (or AN original name, anyway) as Sherringford Hope. I’ll always remember that episode, because I nailed the question before they even read it (I just said Holmes’s name as soon as they gave the final category). 😃