British names: Torquil?!? and Diana Wynne Jones

[terryljames76]

I was reading "The Edge" by Dick Francis last night, and the main 
character's name is Tor, short for Torquil.  A character in "Archer's 
Goon", by Diana Wynne Jones, a book I recommend for any age group, is 
also named Torquil.  Both of these are English writers, and it's a 
name I have never come across in the U.S.  Is it very common in the 
UK?  Where is it from?  How would you pronounce it?

There is a character in Charlotte Macleod's Peter Shandy mysteries 
named Thorkjeld, that I think is possibly pronounced in vaguely the 
same way.  He has Nordic roots, I think.  

BTW, now that I'm thinking of Torquil in "Archer's Goon", he reminds 
me of Sirius--his general attitude.  I guess that would make Howard 
Harry, and definitely Hathaway as Lupin.  Shine would be Umbridge, 
and I see either character played by Roseanne Barr.  The Goon (can't 
remember his real name, grrr) would have to be Hagrid.  

And, on the subject of Diana Wynne Jones, she has a book 
called "Dogsbody" which I haven't read all the way through yet 
(reading at Barnes & Noble in snatches).  The main character is the 
immortal Dog Star Sirius, who has been unjustly convicted of murder, 
transformed into the body of a big black dog and banished. There is a 
man named Harry and a cat named Remus, who starts out as an enemy but 
winds up as a friend.  Haven't got further than that, though.   

Terry LJ (wondering if there are any other DWJ nuts on the list)