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well, I don't know. the OED has four pages on "lock"...whew. as far as sherl is concerned(there's nothing for "sher"), it is an obsolete usage for "schorl", which is a type of volcanic rock, known in other forms as, "tourmaline". it is black, so maybe Sherlock is just "black hair". seems a bit weak, though...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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There are many sites about Sherlock Holmes, the Baker Street Irregulars, etc. I found one
"Sherlock Holmes 101" a chat room for enthusiasts, but got "Not Found". I'm having trouble
with my vision, and my glasses are hurting my nose because my skin is so thin and fragile.
Gotta chcken out for a bit.
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Carpal Tunnel
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wwh:
Mr. Mavlock, Mr. Mavelock, Miss Goldilocks, Mr. Padlock, and Mr. Rapeofthelock
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I always thought that "lock" was probably from "lac" or lakeI think you're right, eta - there's James Love lock (who proposed the Gaia theory: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/philosophy/mave/guide/gaiath~1.htm) and Lady Love lace (Babbage's famous friend: http://www.scottlan.edu/lriddle/women/love.htm) for instance. Not that those two prove anything. I hear Sherlock and tend to think "flintlock", "forelock" and "Shylock". The "lock" bit implies security and efficient mechanisms, doesn't it? Especially if it's a sher thing. 
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I always liked Sherlock Holmes. I think I read somewhere that Doyle based the character on a doctor he once knew.
Doyle was a brilliant writer and Holmes one of the all-time great characters of fiction, but Doyle was a far better writer than he was a logician. Most commonly, the evidence in the stories is alluded to and not stated. And a lot of the "evidence" that is stated is nonsense.
Still, he's one of my favorite characters - particularly case 16 of the first book, The Case of the Greek Interpreter, in which we meet Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's smarter older brother.
I've made a point of reading many of the shorts, as well as the novella The Hound of the Baskervilles to my kids. They loved the stories, but hated the end of the first book where Sherlock gets killed.
I wonder where a name like Mycroft comes from.
k
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stranger
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OP
stranger
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Thanks for your reply. I think that Sherlock Holmes was real in the sense that Santa Claus was real in "The Miracle on 34th Street."
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we meet Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's smarter older brother
Ah yes, I'd forgotten that, FF! It's a brilliant touch, and quite unexpected. You're waiting for Mycroft to slip up, thus proving Sherlock the real star of the show, but it does not happen.
It's another example of how Conan Doyle gives Sherlock just enough human foibles and frailties to make him engaging and likeable.
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