Sherlock
An old English surname most likely meaning “clear or bright-haired,” though some later writers linked it to a personal name or place-name.
The #6,511 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,249 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest historical explanation treats Sherlock as a nickname surname built from Old English elements for “clear” or “bright” plus “lock,” an old word for a lock of hair. On that reading, the name originally referred to someone with fair or silvery hair. Some older sources also suggest a personal-name origin, and a few later writers proposed other explanations, but the hair-color sense is the best-supported traditional account.
History
The name is recorded in medieval forms such as Schyrlok and Shirlok. It appears in England by the 13th and 14th centuries, and later became established in Ireland as well, where some families were noted from Tudor times. The surname is best known today through the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, which has made the name internationally familiar.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname is sometimes compared with other old “lock” surnames like Whitelock, Silverlock, and Blacklock, all built around the idea of a person’s hair.
From the historical record
“SHERLEY, V.Shirley. SHERLOCK (Eng.) i With Fair or White Hair [M.E. s{c)herej,schyr{e, etc., O.E. scir + M.E. lok, O.E. locc] The form Schyrlok occurs in the 13th cent. ; Shirlok in the 14th cent. Cp. the surnames Whitelock and Silverlock.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)