Sherlock
A masculine given name meaning "bright-haired" or "fair-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 68 living Americans carry the first name Sherlock. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sherlock today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherlock births was 2017 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherlock. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sherlock with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sherlock. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
68
~ 1 in 5,040,505 Americans
Peak year
2017
12 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,018
Tracked since 1930
Census
Sherlock in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 266 people with the first name Sherlock, which placed it at #31,950 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#31,950
National first-name rank
People counted
266
266 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherlock
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherlock is Black at 48.5%. The next largest groups are White (26.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sherlock described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sherlock at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.5% · 129
- White26.3% · 70
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.0% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 18
- Two or more races5.3% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
Popularity
Sherlock: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherlock from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 49 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sherlock by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sherlock during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherlock
The name Sherlock is an English given name derived from the Old English words "scir" meaning "bright" and "locc" meaning "lock of hair". It was originally used as a descriptive surname, referring to someone with bright or fair hair.
The earliest recorded use of Sherlock as a surname dates back to the 13th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Sherlock de Littlebyry, who was mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Staffordshire in 1293.
The name Sherlock gained widespread recognition in the 19th century due to the famous fictional character Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). The character's name likely contributed to the popularity of Sherlock as a given name.
Notable people named Sherlock throughout history include:
1. Sherlock Swinnerton (1535-1616), an English clergyman and author.
2. Sherlock Bronson (1804-1838), an American missionary and translator.
3. Sherlock James Anstruther (1808-1904), a British politician and landowner.
4. Sherlock Hickox (1809-1888), an American politician and lawyer.
5. Sherlock Brebner (1871-1951), a Scottish footballer and manager.
While the name Sherlock is not as common today as it was in the past, it remains a unique and intriguing option for parents looking for a name with a rich historical background and literary connections.
People
Sherlock + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherlock as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sherlock: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherlock?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherlock going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 5,040,505 US residents.
Is Sherlock a common name?
We classify Sherlock as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 78 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherlock most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherlock was 2017, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherlock is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sherlock in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 266 people with the name Sherlock, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,950 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sherlock in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sherlock?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherlock leans strongly male. 259 people counted with this name were male (94.9%), compared with 14 female bearers (5.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sherlock?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherlock is Black at 48.5%. The next largest groups are White (26.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (12.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sherlock most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sherlock in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.5% (129 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sherlock in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherlock a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherlock in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sherlock still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherlock in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sherlock can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Sherlock as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Sherlock on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.