John Doe

English Etymology Books that documented and taught the legal profession in England were using the names John Smith, John Doe, Richard Roe, and others as generic placeholder names (for roles, such as plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, etc) by the mid-seventeenth century (perhaps earlier). Compare also en Tommy Atkins. Though the rationale behind the choices of Doe and Roe is unknown, there are many suggested folk etymologies. Other fictitious names for a person involved in litigation in medieval English law were "John Noakes" (or "Nokes") and "John-a-Stiles" (or "John Stiles"). The Oxford English Dictionary states that John Doe is "the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete in the UK) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe". en Pronunciation en en-au-John Doe.ogg AU Proper noun en chiefly _ United States A fictitious name used chiefly in legal documents for an unknown or anonymous, usually male, person. en John Smith Richard Roe en Jane Doe<qq:an unknown female> Jane Roe<qq:an unknown female> ; Joe Bloggs<qq:chiefly UK and Commonwealth> John Citizen ; Juan Doe<qq:an unknown Latino> Juanita Doe<qq:an unknown Latina> en 1885 Richard Francis Burton Richard Burton The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night 4 i.e. "to Tom, Dick or Harry:" the names like John Doe and Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab. Translations male name used in legal documents Chinese: Cantonese: yue 陳大文 Mandarin: cmn 張三, cmn 李四, cmn 王五, cmn 王小明 Finnish: fi N.N., fi Matti Meikäläinen m French: fr X, fr Jos Bleau m Quebec German: de N. N., de NN, non-legal de Max Mustermann Hebrew: he ישראל ישראלי Israel Israeli, he פְּלוֹנִי אַלְמוֹנִי ploni almoni Italian: it NN m f, it ignoto m, it Mario Rossi m Japanese: ja 山田太郎 やまだ たろう, Yamada Tarō Korean: ko ^홍길동 Latin: la NN m f Norwegian: no Ola Nordmann m Polish: pl NN m f Portuguese: pt Zé da Silva m, pt zé-ninguém m, pt joão-ninguém m Russian: ru Ива́н Ива́нович m Spanish: es NN, es Juan Pérez m Swedish: sv NN Tagalog: tl Juan dela Cruz Vietnamese: vi Nguyễn Văn A See also en average joe everyman Joe Average Joe Bloggs Joe Blow Joe Doakes Joe Public Joe Schmoe Joe Q. Law John Q. Law John Q. Public J. Random User man on the street Yamada Tarō Noun en United States Any unknown or anonymous, usually male, person. Translations any unknown or anonymous male person Arabic: ar فُلان m, ar فُلان الْفُلانِيّ m, ar فُلان اِبْن فُلان m Moroccan Arabic: ary فلان m flān, ary فلان بن فلان m flān bin flān, ary فلان بن علان m flān bin ʕallān Azerbaijani: az Filankəs Filankəsov Chinese: Cantonese: yue 某 mau5 Mandarin: cmn 佚名, cmn 某甲 Esperanto: eo Ajnulo, eo Sinjoro Ajnulo Finnish: fi Matti Meikäläinen French: fr Jean Dupont, fr Tartempion, fr Untel m, fr Unetelle f Galician: gl Fulano m, gl Xan m German: de Max Mustermann, de Otto Normalverbraucher Hebrew: he פלוני m ploní Hungarian: hu Gipsz Jakab Icelandic: is Jón Jónsson m Irish: ga Seán Ó Rudaí Italian: it Mario Rossi, it Pinco Pallino Japanese: ja なになに naninani what-what, ja だれだれ daredare, ja ほげ hoge internet, ja 権兵衛 Gonbee Macedonian: mk Петар Петровски m Malay: ms mat, ms Si Fulan classical Norwegian: no Ola Nordmann Polish: pl Jan Kowalski m, pl Kowalski m Portuguese: pt fulano m Romanian: ro Xulescu, ro Domnul Xulescu Russian: ru имяре́к m, ru Иван Иванович Иванов, ru Вася Пупкин humorous Serbo-Croatian: sh Nepoznati Netko unknown someone Spanish: es Fulano m, es Mengano m, es Zutano m Turkish: tr sarı çizmeli Mehmet Ağa Mr. Mehmet with yellow boots Ukrainian: uk постражда́лий victim, uk невідомий unknown someone Vietnamese: vi Nguyễn Văn A Walloon: wa Tibî Meyî c Yiddish: yi משה גרויס m moyshe groys See also en so-and-so, en what's-his-name, en you-know-who en placeholder terms en People