A name. A world of connections.

Sherlock

“bright-lock”

masculineLatin script

Hear the name

English (Australia)

Origin: Old English
1 language contexts: English
Follow the evidence: 5 cited sources Source-reported

01 / Meaning & origin

About Sherlock

Sherlock is a masculine given name documented in English. English Wiktionary traces it to Old English scir-locc, with the stated meaning “bright-lock”.

Old English origin

Source-reported

Meaning: “bright-lock”

Supposedly from an Old English scir-locc (“bright-lock”). One of a group of surnames originally denoting hair colour, parallel to Blacklock, Harlock (Old English har (“grey”)), Silverlock. In the sense of “a detective”, from Sherlock Holmes. In the computing verb sense, refers to the software Sherlock, which in 2002 came to replicate some of the features of an earlier complementary program called Watson.

Sources for this account (3)

Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
French Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

02 / Across borders

Where Sherlock is used

Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Sherlock’s connections around the world.

1 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

United States

Statistics + language records

United States, 2022: 5 boys (rank 12330). Documented as a given name in English.

Explore United States

4 of 10 countries

03 / By the numbers

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

United States

1880–2025 Spelling: Sherlock

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2022: 5; applications; Rank #12,330
Peak year: 2017; 12 applications

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)

Integer application counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Sherlock in United States, boys: applications and rank by year
Year	Applications	Rank	Status
1880	no value	no value	not covered
1881	no value	no value	not covered
1882	no value	no value	not covered
1883	no value	no value	not covered
1884	no value	no value	not covered
1885	no value	no value	not covered
1886	no value	no value	not covered
1887	no value	no value	not covered
1888	no value	no value	not covered
1889	no value	no value	not covered
1890	no value	no value	not covered
1891	no value	no value	not covered
1892	no value	no value	not covered
1893	no value	no value	not covered
1894	no value	no value	not covered
1895	no value	no value	not covered
1896	no value	no value	not covered
1897	no value	no value	not covered
1898	no value	no value	not covered
1899	no value	no value	not covered
1900	no value	no value	not covered
1901	no value	no value	not covered
1902	no value	no value	not covered
1903	no value	no value	not covered
1904	no value	no value	not covered
1905	no value	no value	not covered
1906	no value	no value	not covered
1907	no value	no value	not covered
1908	no value	no value	not covered
1909	no value	no value	not covered
1910	no value	no value	not covered
1911	no value	no value	not covered
1912	no value	no value	not covered
1913	no value	no value	not covered
1914	no value	no value	not covered
1915	no value	no value	not covered
1916	no value	no value	not covered
1917	no value	no value	not covered
1918	no value	no value	not covered
1919	no value	no value	not covered
1920	no value	no value	not covered
1921	no value	no value	not covered
1922	no value	no value	not covered
1923	no value	no value	not covered
1924	no value	no value	not covered
1925	no value	no value	not covered
1926	no value	no value	not covered
1927	no value	no value	not covered
1928	no value	no value	not covered
1929	no value	no value	not covered
1930	5	4,001	observed
1931	no value	no value	not covered
1932	no value	no value	not covered
1933	no value	no value	not covered
1934	no value	no value	not covered
1935	no value	no value	not covered
1936	no value	no value	not covered
1937	no value	no value	not covered
1938	no value	no value	not covered
1939	no value	no value	not covered
1940	no value	no value	not covered
1941	no value	no value	not covered
1942	no value	no value	not covered
1943	no value	no value	not covered
1944	no value	no value	not covered
1945	no value	no value	not covered
1946	no value	no value	not covered
1947	no value	no value	not covered
1948	no value	no value	not covered
1949	7	3,019	observed
1950	no value	no value	not covered
1951	no value	no value	not covered
1952	no value	no value	not covered
1953	no value	no value	not covered
1954	no value	no value	not covered
1955	7	3,201	observed
1956	no value	no value	not covered
1957	no value	no value	not covered
1958	no value	no value	not covered
1959	no value	no value	not covered
1960	no value	no value	not covered
1961	no value	no value	not covered
1962	no value	no value	not covered
1963	no value	no value	not covered
1964	no value	no value	not covered
1965	no value	no value	not covered
1966	no value	no value	not covered
1967	no value	no value	not covered
1968	no value	no value	not covered
1969	no value	no value	not covered
1970	no value	no value	not covered
1971	no value	no value	not covered
1972	no value	no value	not covered
1973	no value	no value	not covered
1974	no value	no value	not covered
1975	no value	no value	not covered
1976	no value	no value	not covered
1977	no value	no value	not covered
1978	5	5,772	observed
1979	no value	no value	not covered
1980	no value	no value	not covered
1981	no value	no value	not covered
1982	no value	no value	not covered
1983	no value	no value	not covered
1984	no value	no value	not covered
1985	no value	no value	not covered
1986	no value	no value	not covered
1987	no value	no value	not covered
1988	no value	no value	not covered
1989	no value	no value	not covered
1990	no value	no value	not covered
1991	no value	no value	not covered
1992	no value	no value	not covered
1993	no value	no value	not covered
1994	no value	no value	not covered
1995	no value	no value	not covered
1996	no value	no value	not covered
1997	no value	no value	not covered
1998	no value	no value	not covered
1999	no value	no value	not covered
2000	no value	no value	not covered
2001	no value	no value	not covered
2002	no value	no value	not covered
2003	no value	no value	not covered
2004	no value	no value	not covered
2005	no value	no value	not covered
2006	no value	no value	not covered
2007	no value	no value	not covered
2008	no value	no value	not covered
2009	no value	no value	not covered
2010	no value	no value	not covered
2011	no value	no value	not covered
2012	6	10,770	observed
2013	no value	no value	not covered
2014	8	8,781	observed
2015	9	8,040	observed
2016	8	8,816	observed
2017	12	6,685	observed
2018	no value	no value	not covered
2019	6	10,803	observed
2020	no value	no value	not covered
2021	no value	no value	not covered
2022	5	12,330	observed
2023	no value	no value	not covered
2024	no value	no value	not covered
2025	no value	no value	not covered

About this dataset and its counting rules

Statistics count the spelling “Sherlock” as recorded by the publisher. When a spelling has several independent origins, the counts are not split between them. Counts measure applications. Gaps are years without a published value, not zeros.

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: US national Social Security card applications by name, sex and birth year; not a complete birth registry, especially before 1937.
Rounding: Integer application counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: Only names with at least 5 occurrences in a year and sex are included. Missing observations are not zeros.
Ranking: computed by NameStoria from published counts; ties share a rank, next rank skips. The mirror's derived rank column is not used.

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC0-1.0

Read our methodology

04 / Through time

History

No historical attestations or sourced notable bearers are recorded yet. Historical databases are being evaluated for reuse permission; nothing is listed until a record can be cited.

A little story to keep

A name worth keeping.

Take the story of Sherlock with you. Create a personal name passport with its meaning, roots and connections.

06 / Behind the facts

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms4

Wikidata Q88543088CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
French Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Pronunciation recordingsAudio credits and individual recording licences1

Wikimedia Commons: File:En-au-Sherlock.oggCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Statistics and surveysPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates2

SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)
US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
NISRA — First Forenames Given to Babies Registered in Northern Ireland, 1997-2025 (full list)
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) · OGL-UK-3.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.

Loading your next page…

About Sherlock

Sherlock is a masculine given name documented in English. English Wiktionary traces it to Old English scir-locc, with the stated meaning “bright-lock”.

Old English origin

Source-reported

Meaning: “bright-lock”

Sources for this account (3)

Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
French Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Where Sherlock is used

Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.

The name atlas

Across borders

countries in our sources

Select a country to follow Sherlock’s connections around the world.

1 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.

Selected country

United States

Statistics + language records

United States, 2022: 5 boys (rank 12330). Documented as a given name in English.

Explore United States

4 of 10 countries

Popularity over time

Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.

United States

1880–2025 Spelling: Sherlock

Region and dataset

Recorded category boys

Latest · 2022: 5; applications; Rank #12,330
Peak year: 2017; 12 applications

Hover to explore a year. Use arrow keys when a chart point has focus.

Source: US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)

Integer application counts retained without rounding.

Per million is unavailable: this source has no matching published total.

Show the data table

Sherlock in United States, boys: applications and rank by year
Year	Applications	Rank	Status
1880	no value	no value	not covered
1881	no value	no value	not covered
1882	no value	no value	not covered
1883	no value	no value	not covered
1884	no value	no value	not covered
1885	no value	no value	not covered
1886	no value	no value	not covered
1887	no value	no value	not covered
1888	no value	no value	not covered
1889	no value	no value	not covered
1890	no value	no value	not covered
1891	no value	no value	not covered
1892	no value	no value	not covered
1893	no value	no value	not covered
1894	no value	no value	not covered
1895	no value	no value	not covered
1896	no value	no value	not covered
1897	no value	no value	not covered
1898	no value	no value	not covered
1899	no value	no value	not covered
1900	no value	no value	not covered
1901	no value	no value	not covered
1902	no value	no value	not covered
1903	no value	no value	not covered
1904	no value	no value	not covered
1905	no value	no value	not covered
1906	no value	no value	not covered
1907	no value	no value	not covered
1908	no value	no value	not covered
1909	no value	no value	not covered
1910	no value	no value	not covered
1911	no value	no value	not covered
1912	no value	no value	not covered
1913	no value	no value	not covered
1914	no value	no value	not covered
1915	no value	no value	not covered
1916	no value	no value	not covered
1917	no value	no value	not covered
1918	no value	no value	not covered
1919	no value	no value	not covered
1920	no value	no value	not covered
1921	no value	no value	not covered
1922	no value	no value	not covered
1923	no value	no value	not covered
1924	no value	no value	not covered
1925	no value	no value	not covered
1926	no value	no value	not covered
1927	no value	no value	not covered
1928	no value	no value	not covered
1929	no value	no value	not covered
1930	5	4,001	observed
1931	no value	no value	not covered
1932	no value	no value	not covered
1933	no value	no value	not covered
1934	no value	no value	not covered
1935	no value	no value	not covered
1936	no value	no value	not covered
1937	no value	no value	not covered
1938	no value	no value	not covered
1939	no value	no value	not covered
1940	no value	no value	not covered
1941	no value	no value	not covered
1942	no value	no value	not covered
1943	no value	no value	not covered
1944	no value	no value	not covered
1945	no value	no value	not covered
1946	no value	no value	not covered
1947	no value	no value	not covered
1948	no value	no value	not covered
1949	7	3,019	observed
1950	no value	no value	not covered
1951	no value	no value	not covered
1952	no value	no value	not covered
1953	no value	no value	not covered
1954	no value	no value	not covered
1955	7	3,201	observed
1956	no value	no value	not covered
1957	no value	no value	not covered
1958	no value	no value	not covered
1959	no value	no value	not covered
1960	no value	no value	not covered
1961	no value	no value	not covered
1962	no value	no value	not covered
1963	no value	no value	not covered
1964	no value	no value	not covered
1965	no value	no value	not covered
1966	no value	no value	not covered
1967	no value	no value	not covered
1968	no value	no value	not covered
1969	no value	no value	not covered
1970	no value	no value	not covered
1971	no value	no value	not covered
1972	no value	no value	not covered
1973	no value	no value	not covered
1974	no value	no value	not covered
1975	no value	no value	not covered
1976	no value	no value	not covered
1977	no value	no value	not covered
1978	5	5,772	observed
1979	no value	no value	not covered
1980	no value	no value	not covered
1981	no value	no value	not covered
1982	no value	no value	not covered
1983	no value	no value	not covered
1984	no value	no value	not covered
1985	no value	no value	not covered
1986	no value	no value	not covered
1987	no value	no value	not covered
1988	no value	no value	not covered
1989	no value	no value	not covered
1990	no value	no value	not covered
1991	no value	no value	not covered
1992	no value	no value	not covered
1993	no value	no value	not covered
1994	no value	no value	not covered
1995	no value	no value	not covered
1996	no value	no value	not covered
1997	no value	no value	not covered
1998	no value	no value	not covered
1999	no value	no value	not covered
2000	no value	no value	not covered
2001	no value	no value	not covered
2002	no value	no value	not covered
2003	no value	no value	not covered
2004	no value	no value	not covered
2005	no value	no value	not covered
2006	no value	no value	not covered
2007	no value	no value	not covered
2008	no value	no value	not covered
2009	no value	no value	not covered
2010	no value	no value	not covered
2011	no value	no value	not covered
2012	6	10,770	observed
2013	no value	no value	not covered
2014	8	8,781	observed
2015	9	8,040	observed
2016	8	8,816	observed
2017	12	6,685	observed
2018	no value	no value	not covered
2019	6	10,803	observed
2020	no value	no value	not covered
2021	no value	no value	not covered
2022	5	12,330	observed
2023	no value	no value	not covered
2024	no value	no value	not covered
2025	no value	no value	not covered

About this dataset and its counting rules

Rates per million are unavailable for this series because no compatible denominator has been imported.

Universe: US national Social Security card applications by name, sex and birth year; not a complete birth registry, especially before 1937.
Rounding: Integer application counts retained without rounding.
Suppression: Only names with at least 5 occurrences in a year and sex are included. Missing observations are not zeros.
Ranking: computed by NameStoria from published counts; ties share a rank, next rank skips. The mirror's derived rank column is not used.

Retrieved 2026-10-15 · CC0-1.0

Read our methodology

Sources for this page

Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.

Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms4

Wikidata Q88543088CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
French Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Polish Wiktionary: SherlockCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14

Pronunciation recordingsAudio credits and individual recording licences1

Wikimedia Commons: File:En-au-Sherlock.oggCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Statistics and surveysPublishers, dataset licences and retrieval dates2

SSA national baby names, 1880–2025 (CC0 redistribution)
US Social Security Administration; redistributed by nkrishnaswami · CC0-1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
NISRA — First Forenames Given to Babies Registered in Northern Ireland, 1997-2025 (full list)
Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) · OGL-UK-3.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15

Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.

Sherlock

About Sherlock

Old English origin

Where Sherlock is used

Across borders

United States

Popularity over time

United States

History

Sherly

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page

Sherlock

About Sherlock

Old English origin

Where Sherlock is used

Across borders

United States

Popularity over time

United States

History

Sherly

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page

A story to pass on.

About Sherlock

Old English origin

Where Sherlock is used

Across borders

United States

Popularity over time

United States

History

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

Related names in the catalogue

Sherly

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page

A story to pass on.

About Sherlock

Old English origin

Where Sherlock is used

Across borders

United States

Popularity over time

United States

History

Related names

Different forms. Shared stories.

Meet the family

Related names in the catalogue

Sherly

A name worth keeping.

Sources for this page