John Doe

In the United States, the name John Doe is used for a defendant or victim in a legal example or for a person whose identity is unknown or is intended to be anonymous. Male corpses whose identity is unknown are also known by the name John Doe. A female who is not known is referred to as Jane Doe. A child or baby whose identity is unknown can be referred to as Baby Doe, or in one particular case, as Precious Doe. Additional people in the same family may be called James Doe, Judy Doe, etc. An anonymous plaintiff is known as Richard Roe, or Jane Roe in the case of a woman. The Oxford English Dictionary states that John Doe is "the name given to the fictitious lessee of the plaintiff, in the (now obsolete) mixed action of ejectment, the fictitious defendant being called Richard Roe". Likewise, the Nuttall encyclopedia states that John O'Noakes or John Noakes is a fictitious name for a litigious person, used by lawyers in actions of ejectment.

In Friedman v. Ferguson, 850 F.2d 689 (4th Cir. 1988), the plaintiff pro se somewhat famously used the following creative variations on John Doe: Brett Boe, Carla Coe, Donna Doe, Frank Foe, Grace Goe, Harry Hoe, Marta Moe, Norma Noe, Paula Poe, Ralph Roe, Sammy Soe, Tommy Toe, Vince Voe, William Woe, Xerxes Xoe.

John Doe in various countries/regions

Brazil	Minors accused of crimes, whenever mentioned publicly, are referred to by the initials of their full names (P. A. T., for instance). In court records, however, the full names are kept, though they are not disclosed.
Japan	Anonymized defendants, such as juveniles (who have their identities protected during litigation) are referred to with Roman letters, e.g., "Boy A."
Netherlands	a defendant is referred to with first name and initial, e.g. "John D."
Poland	In legal and police work person unknown is NN.
Sweden	N.N. as placeholder in formal contexts. Defendants are also often referred to by simply stating their age, for example "the 35-year old". Also used in Sweden's neighbouring countries Norway (in cases of averageness, Ola and Kari Nordmann are mainly used) and Denmark.
United Kingdom	In a court of law, the expression "person (or persons) unknown" would be used for somebody whose identity was not known, rather than a fictitious name. A specific person involved in a court case whose identity is not to be made public is often referred to as Child B, Soldier A, Mr X, etc. The man on the Clapham omnibus is used in legal circles as a generic term for the behaviour and level of education of a "normal" person. The names, John Doe, Richard Roe, Hugh Hunt (among others) were formerly used for fictitious persons treated as participating in legal proceedings, such as ejectments.
USA	John Doe, Jane Doe, Precious Doe, Baby Doe, John Smith (which has largely been replaced with John Doe) The female equivalent is Jane Doe or Mary Major. A second male is dubbed Richard Roe, and subsequent ones are referred to as John Stiles and Richard Miles.

Informal names for unknown or unspecified persons in various countries/regions

Different fictitious names are used for unknown or unspecified persons in different countries in an informal context, rather than in a court of law or similar. These names are generally understood to be generic.

Arabia	Fulan (Arabic: فلان) (female equivalent: Fulanah, فلانة), Ellan (علان) as a partner. Majhoul (Arabic: مجهول)
Argentina	Juan Pérez, Don Nadie, Fulano, Mengano, Zutano or Sultano.
Australia	Fred Nerk, Joe Blow, Joe Bloggs, John Citizen, Joe Farnarkle, John Barry
Austria	Hans Meier, Hans Maier, Hans Mayer, Max Muster(mann), Herr und Frau Österreicher
Belgium	Jean Dupont, Jan Janssen, Jos Joskens, Duschmol, Duchien
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Marko Markovic, Petar Petrovic, Sima Simic
Brazil	Fulano (de Tal), Sicrano, Beltrano, João da Silva, Zé da Silva, Zé Ninguém.
Canada	G. Raymond (male/female, mostly on credit cards and ID, used as could be either an anglophone or francophone name), John Jones, Jos Bleau (Quebec, French adaptation of Joe Blow)
Chile	Juan Pérez, Fulano de Tal, Perico de los Palotes
China	无名氏 (Pinyin: Wúmíng Shì, literally "Mr./Ms. No Name"); 某某 (Pinyin: Mǒu Mǒu, literally "so-and-so"); (using the List of common Chinese surnames with numbers, etc.) 赵大 (Pinyin: Zhào Dà, literally "Zhao Big"), 钱二 (Pinyin: Qián Èr, "Qian 2"), 孙三 (Pinyin: Sūn Sān, "Sun 3"), 张三 (Pinyin: Zhāng Sān, "Zhang 3"), 李四 (Pinyin: Lǐ Sì, "Li 4"), 王五 (Pinyin: Wáng Wǔ, "Wang 5"), ...; (using the Heavenly Stems) 某甲 (Pinyin: Mǒu Jiǎ, literally "a certain A"), 某乙 (Pinyin: Mǒu Yǐ, "a certain B"), 某丙 (Pinyin: Mǒu Bǐng, "a certain C"), ...; 小强，小明...
Colombia	Fulano de Tal (probably from Arabic, Fulan), Pepito Pérez, Sultano, Mengano, Perencejo
Croatia	Ivan Horvat, Pero Perić, N.N. ("Nepoznati Netko", trns. "Unknown someone")
Czech Republic	Jan Novák, Karel Vomáčka, Franta Vopršálek
Denmark	N.N.
Ecuador	Juan Perez, Fulano, Sultano, Mengano
Estonia	Jaan Tamm (male), Tädi Maali (an old female, literally "Aunt Maali")
Faroe Islands	Miðalhampamaður
Finland	Matti Meikäläinen (male/generic) and Maija Meikäläinen (female). Pihtiputaan mummo ("the Grandma/old lady from Pihtipudas") refers to the senior citizen not conversant in modern jargon or technical terminology, to whom things have to be explained clearly.
France	Jean Dupont, Paul Martin, Monsieur Durand, Monsieur/Madame Untel, Monsieur/Madame X
Germany	Hans/Max/Otto and Erika Mustermann, Lieschen Müller, Otto Normalverbraucher, Meier/Müller/Schulze, NN
Greece	Γιώργος Τάδε (male), Μαρία Τάδε (female), Τάδε Ταδόπουλος, ο Δείνα, ο Φούφουτος, Ένας Κάποιος, Γιάννης Φάλας
Guatemala	Juan Pérez, Fulano, Sultano, Mengano, Perencejo
Hong Kong and Macau	陳大文
Hungary	Gipsz Jakab, Kovács János (John Smith), Jóska Pista, Gádoros Miska, Ló Béla, XY
Iceland	Meðal-Jón, Meðal-Jóna, Jón Jónsson, Jóna Jónsdóttir
India	Aira Gaira Nathu Khaira, (female equivalent unknown)
Indonesia	Si Anu / Fulan
Iran	Folani, Felani
Ireland	Seán and Síle Citizen; Irish: Seán Ó Rudaí, from rud = thing
Israel	Israel Israeli ישראל ישראלי and also Ploni פלוני and Almoni אלמוני (as a party to Ploni) or the latter combined to Ploni Almoni (taken from Ruth 4:2, where it is used in place of the actual name of Boaz's relative, whose name is omitted as he failed to perform his levirate duty).
Italy	Mario Rossi, Pinco Pallino, Tal dei Tali, Tizio, Caio, Sempronio.
Japan	山田太郎 (Yamada Taro, a common male name), 山田花子 (Yamada Hanako, a common female name), 名無しの権兵衛 (Nanashi-no-Gombei, literally "Nameless So-and-So"), 何野某 (Nanno Nanigashi), 土左衛門 (Dozaemon, a drowned corpse)
Korea	홍길동 (Hong, Gil-dong)
Latvia	Jānis Bērziņš
Lebanon	Majhoul (Arabic: مجهول), Folan (Arabic: فلان) (female equivalent: Folana, فلانة), Elan (علان) as a partner.
Lithuania	Vardenis Pavardenis, Jonas Jonaitis, Petras Petraitis
Macedonia	Петар Петровски
Malaysia	Si Anu, Si Polan, Si Polan Bin Si Polan, Mat & Minah
Malta	Joe Borg
Mexico	Juan/Juanito Pérez, Fulano de Tal, Mengano, Perengano, Sutano
Netherlands	Jan Modaal is used in a similar way to the English the Joneses, in particular referring to average wealth
New Zealand	Joe Bloggs, John Doe, Joe Blow
Norway	N.N, Ola Nordmann, Kari Nordmann
Pakistan	Falana (Male), Falani (Female). This is derived from the Persian equivalent
Paraguay	Juan Pérez, Fulano de Tal, Sultano, Mengano, N.N.
Peru	Juan Pérez, Fulano de Tal, Sultano, Mengano
Philippines	Juan dela Cruz
Poland	Jan Kowalski, Jan Nowak
Portugal	Fulano, Sicrano, Beltrano, Zé Ninguém
Romania	Ion Popescu
Russia	Иванов Иван Иванович (Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich), Петров и Сидоров (Petrov and Sidorov), Вася Пупкин (Vasya Pupkin), имярек (old slavonic abbreviation of имя рекомое, that is "name to be spoken". Still usable; not a name, but a reference to a person, usually in context of filling in a form)
Serbia and Montenegro	U legalnim poslovima, policija i sudstvo, koristi se termin NN lice. Svakodnevni ekvivalenti su: Petar Petrović, Pera Perić, Marko Marković.
Singapore	Ah Beng
Slovakia	Jožko Mrkvička
Slovenia	Janez Novak
South Africa	Koos van der Merwe
Spain	Fulano de Tal, Pepe Pérez, Pedro Pérez, Juan Nadie, Fulano, Fulanito, Mengano, Menganito, Perico de los Palotes, Zutano, Zutanito, Sultano, Sultanito, Don Nadie
Sweden	(Herr/Fru) Svensson, Medelsvensson for the average Swede; Kalle, Olle, Pelle, Nisse and Lisa are pretty common when a name is needed as an example.
Switzerland	Herr und Frau Schweizer, Hans Meier, Hans Mustermann
Thailand	Nai-gor (นาย ก), Nai-Kor (นาย ข) which gor (ก) and (ข) are the first two characters of Thai alphabet
Turkey	Sarı çizmeli Mehmet Ağa, Ali Veli Konya
United Kingdom	Joe Bloggs, John Smith. Also A N Other, R Punter.
Uruguay	Fulano, Mengano; Juan Perez
USA	John Q. Public, Joe Blow, Joe Sixpack
Vietnam	Người dấu tên, Nguyễn Văn A (male), Nguyễn Thị B (female)

John/Jane Doe in popular culture

Meet John Doe is a film directed by Frank Capra and starring Gary Cooper.
"Jane Doe" is a song by hard rock band Mr. Big from their album Hey Man released in 1996.
"Jane Doe" is a song by symphonic metal band Within Temptation
"Jane Doe" is a 2001 album by metallic hardcore band Converge.
"Jane Doe" is a song by Alicia Keys
"Jane Doe" is the leader of the 'Squirrel Scouts' in the animated series "Camp Lazlo"; the name is a pun on the fact that she is in fact a female deer.
An alien character in Galaxy Quest (played by actress Missi Pyle) assumes the name "Jane Doe."
"Jonathan Doe" is the name of the serial killer in the movie Se7en.
John Doe, a 2002 Fox Broadcasting Company series starring Dominic Purcell, currently playing on the SciFi Channel.
Jane Doe is a series of made-for-TV movies on the Hallmark Channel starring Lea Thompson.
John Doe was the pseudonym of a character in the The Final Nightmare. He was the last teenager in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio.
Johnny Doe is Dirk Diggler's rival actor in the 1997 film Boogie Nights.
John Doe Jersey is the name given by the press to the incarnation of God in the 1999 film Dogma.
John Doe is a comic, edited in Italy by Eura Editoriale.
John Doe is a Secret Service agent in the Dan Gutman book, The Kid Who Became President.
John Doe is a song from the thrash metal band Testament on their album Demonic.
John Doe was the stage name of John Duchac, founder of seminal punk rock band X.
The landmark 1973 Supreme Court abortion case Roe v. Wade gets half of its name from Jane Roe (an anonymous plaintiff) who was later revealed to be Norma McCorvey.
Jane Doe is the name of an unknown quest character in the computer game Maple Story.
John is also the name used for the narrator/protagonist in the novel Fight Club to describe that it could have been anyone.
John Doe is the title of an X-Files episode (Season 9, Episode 7)
Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach (American rock band) fame used 'J. Doe' as his stage name for his side-project band 'Fight The Sky'.

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John Doe in various countries/regions

Informal names for unknown or unspecified persons in various countries/regions

John/Jane Doe in popular culture

See also