Although the surname Sherret is found in Scotland and it is ultimately of English origin, having been introduced into Scotland by English Settlers. The exact origin of this surname is uncertain, but it is believed by the scholar Charles Wareign Bardsley to be a corruption of Sherwood. At first this was corrupted to Sher’ood, then Sherad and from this we get Sherrett. This conclusion is supported by the fact that in the index to the Register of the University of Oxford we find the following entry: Sherwood or Sherewood or Sherrat. Thus the name is of toponymic origin, that is, derived from the place where the initial bearer once lived or held land.

In this instance, the name indicates "one who came from Sherwood" , the name of a place in Co. Nottingham, around which once stood the famous Sherwood forest. The toponym Sherwood is derived from the Old English words, "scire" meaning "shire, administrative district" and "wudu" meaning wood. Thus the name can literally be translated as "wood belonging to the shire". Variants of this surname include Sherrett, Sheritt, Sheret and Sherrad. The earliest Scottish record of this surname is from 1511 when one Thomas Schervuid is listed as a tenant in Auchlyne and a criminal charge was brought against James Sherrat in Candross, Dumbartonshire in 1671. In England the name appears in 1298 when one William Sherad is recorded in the Assize Rolls of Staffordshire. Richard Schirad was residing in the same county in 1323 and William Sherad is mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Staffordshire in 1337. In 1578 one William Sheratt is listed as living in Cheshire and William Sherratt of Moss Side, Manchester, is mentioned in the Wills at Chester in 1588. John Sherratt, of Church Lawton, appears in the same records in 1604.