John Doe

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Proper noun

John Doe

1. (US) A fictitious name used in legal documents for an unknown or anonymous, usually male, person.
   • 1885, Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume 4:

     i.e. "to Tom, Dick or Harry:" the names like John Doe and Richard Roe are used indefinitely in Arab.

Coordinate terms

• Jane Doe (an unknown female)
• Jane Roe (an unknown female)
• (Australia, UK) Joe Bloggs
• John Citizen
• Juan Doe (an unknown Latino)
• Juanita Doe (an unknown Latina)
• Richard Roe

Translations

male name used in legal documents

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 陳大文／陈大文 (can⁴ daai⁶ man⁴)

  Mandarin: 張三／张三 (zh) (Zhāng Sān), 李四 (zh) (Lǐ Sì), 王五 (zh) (Wáng Wǔ), 王小明 (Wáng Xiǎomíng)

• Finnish: N.N. (fi), Matti Meikäläinen (fi) m
• French: X (fr)
• German: Max Mustermann (de) m, N. N. (de), NN (de)
• Hebrew: ישראל ישראלי (he) (Israel Israeli), פְּלוֹנִי אַלְמוֹנִי (he) (ploni almoni)
• Italian: NN m or f, ignoto (it) m, Mario Rossi m
• Japanese: 山田太郎 (やまだ たろう, Yamada Tarō)
• Korean: 홍길동 (ko) (Hong Gildong)
• Latin: NN m or f
• Norwegian: Ola Nordmann m
• Polish: NN (pl) m or f
• Portuguese: Zé da Silva m
• Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович m (Iván Ivánovič)
• Spanish: NN (es), Juan Pérez m
• Swedish: NN (sv)
• Vietnamese: Nguyễn Văn A

Noun

John Doe (plural John Does)

1. (US) Any unknown or anonymous, usually male, person.

Translations

any unknown or anonymous male person

• Arabic: فُلان (ar) m (fulān), فُلان الْفُلانِيّ m (fulān al-fulāniyy), فُلان اِبْن فُلان m (fulān ibn fulān)

  Moroccan Arabic: فلان m (flān), فلان بن فلان m (flān bin flān), فلان بن علان m (flān bin ʕallān)

• Azerbaijani: Filankəs Filankəsov
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 某 (mau⁵)

  Mandarin: 佚名 (zh) (yìmíng), 某甲 (zh) (mǒujiǎ)

• Esperanto: Ajnulo, Sinjoro Ajnulo
• Finnish: Matti Meikäläinen (fi)
• French: Jean Dupont, Tartempion (fr), Untel (fr) m, Unetelle f
• Galician: Fulano m, Xan m
• German: Max Mustermann (de), Otto Normalverbraucher (de)
• Hebrew: פלוני (he) m (ploní) from Plony Almony - an unknown person in the biblical book of Ruth.
• Hungarian: Gipsz Jakab
• Icelandic: Jón Jónsson m
• Irish: Seán Ó Rudaí
• Italian: Mario Rossi, Pinco Pallino
• Japanese: なになに (naninani, literally “what-what”), だれだれ (ja) (daredare), ほげ (hoge) (internet)
• Macedonian: Петар Петровски m (Petar Petrovski)
• Malay: mat (ms), Si Fulan (classical)
• Norwegian: Ola Nordmann
• Polish: Jan Kowalski (pl) m, Kowalski (pl) m
• Portuguese: fulano (pt) m
• Romanian: Xulescu, Domnul Xulescu
• Russian: имяре́к (ru) m (imjarék), Иван Иванович Иванов (Ivan Ivanovič Ivanov), Вася Пупкин (ru) (Vasja Pupkin) (humorous)
• Serbo-Croatian: Nepoznati Netko (literally “unknown someone”)
• Spanish: Fulano m, Mengano m, Zutano m
• Turkish: sarı çizmeli Mehmet Ağa (literally “Mr. Mehmet with yellow boots”)
• Ukrainian: постражда́лий (postraždályj, literally “victim”), невідомий (nevidomyj, literally “unknown someone”)
• Vietnamese: Nguyễn Văn A
• Walloon: Tibî Meyî (wa) c
• Yiddish: משה גרויס m (moyshe groys)

See also

• so-and-so, what's-his-name, you-know-who