22 Mind-Blowing Facts About Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

16. Conan Is Not Actually Part Of His Surname

Everybody knows that "Arthur Conan Doyle" wrote the Sherlock Holmes novels, right? Wrong! Well he did, but the name under which he was baptised at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh was "Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle" - with "Doyle" registered as his surname. "Conan" is actually one of his two middle names, but after leaving high school he decided to used it as part of a dual surname. His second wife was known as "Jean Conan Doyle" following their marriage - yet confusingly he was only knighted as "Doyle" and not "Conan Doyle".