![]() Still, there is always room for an alternative theory, and I have one to offer, after noticing a little park in the city where I live that goes by the name of Scharlach Green. (Etymologists cite spellings like "scirloc".) We learn in "The Dancing Men" that Holmes's hair actually looked like "a black top-knot", but perhaps he was blonde as a baby. ![]() It's also generally accepted (although one Sherlockian tried to make it a portmanteau word from "sheriff" and "lockup") that the root meaning of "Sherlock" is "shining-locks" or, in modern English, "fair-haired". Whether Sherlock Holmes got his first name from a cricketer whom Arthur Conan Doyle admired, a 17th century theologian whom he couldn't help knowing about, a Stonyhurst schoolmate, or a great-aunt on his father's side, all of which are theories that have been plausibly advanced, there's general agreement that "Sherlock" was an Irish surname and possibly a place-name before it was ever coupled with the name of Holmes. ![]()
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