John Doe

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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 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".

81 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Chinese Cantonese: 陳大文 /陈大文 — male name used in legal documents
• Chinese Mandarin: 張三 /张三 (Zhāng Sān) — male name used in legal documents
• Chinese Mandarin: 李四 (Lǐ Sì) — male name used in legal documents
• Chinese Mandarin: 王五 (Wáng Wǔ) — male name used in legal documents
• Chinese Mandarin: 王小明 (Wáng Xiǎomíng) — male name used in legal documents
• Finnish: N.N. — male name used in legal documents
• Finnish: Matti Meikäläinen — male name used in legal documents
• French: X — male name used in legal documents
• French: Jos Bleau — male name used in legal documents
• German: N. N. — male name used in legal documents
• German: NN — male name used in legal documents
• German: Max Mustermann — male name used in legal documents
• Hebrew: ישראל ישראלי — male name used in legal documents
• Hebrew: פְּלוֹנִי אַלְמוֹנִי (ploni almoni) — male name used in legal documents
• Italian: NN — male name used in legal documents
• Italian: ignoto — male name used in legal documents
• Italian: Mario Rossi — male name used in legal documents
• Japanese: 山田太郎 (Yamada Tarō) — male name used in legal documents
• Korean: 홍길동 (Honggildong) — male name used in legal documents
• Latin: NN — male name used in legal documents
• Norwegian: Ola Nordmann — male name used in legal documents
• Polish: NN — male name used in legal documents
• Portuguese: Zé da Silva — male name used in legal documents
• Portuguese: zé-ninguém — male name used in legal documents
• Portuguese: joão-ninguém — male name used in legal documents
• Russian: Ива́н Ива́нович (Iván Ivánovič) — male name used in legal documents
• Spanish: NN — male name used in legal documents
• Spanish: Juan Pérez — male name used in legal documents
• Swedish: NN — male name used in legal documents
• Tagalog: Juan dela Cruz — male name used in legal documents
• Vietnamese: Nguyễn Văn A — male name used in legal documents
• Arabic: فُلان (fulān) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Arabic: فُلان الْفُلانِيّ (fulān al-fulāniyy) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Arabic: فُلان اِبْن فُلان (fulān ibn fulān) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Arabic: فلان (flān) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Arabic: فلان بن فلان (flān bin flān) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Arabic: فلان بن علان (flān bin ʕallān) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Azerbaijani: Filankəs Filankəsov — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Chinese Cantonese: 某 (mau5) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Chinese Mandarin: 佚名 (yìmíng) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Chinese Mandarin: 某甲 (mǒujiǎ) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Esperanto: Ajnulo — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Esperanto: Sinjoro Ajnulo — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Finnish: Matti Meikäläinen — any unknown or anonymous male person
• French: Jean Dupont — any unknown or anonymous male person
• French: Tartempion — any unknown or anonymous male person
• French: Untel — any unknown or anonymous male person
• French: Unetelle — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Galician: Fulano — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Galician: Xan — any unknown or anonymous male person
• German: Max Mustermann — any unknown or anonymous male person
• German: Otto Normalverbraucher — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Hebrew: פלוני (ploní) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Hungarian: Gipsz Jakab — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Icelandic: Jón Jónsson — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Irish: Seán Ó Rudaí — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Italian: Mario Rossi — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Italian: Pinco Pallino — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Japanese: だれだれ (daredare) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Japanese: ほげ (hoge) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Japanese: 権兵衛 (Gonbee) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Macedonian: Петар Петровски (Petar Petrovski) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Malay: mat — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Malay: Si Fulan — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Norwegian: Ola Nordmann — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Polish: Jan Kowalski — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Polish: Kowalski — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Portuguese: fulano — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Romanian: Xulescu — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Romanian: Domnul Xulescu — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Russian: имяре́к (imjarék) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Russian: Иван Иванович Иванов (Ivan Ivanovič Ivanov) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Russian: Вася Пупкин (Vasja Pupkin) — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Serbo-Croatian: Nepoznati Netko — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Spanish: Fulano — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Spanish: Mengano — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Spanish: Zutano — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Turkish: sarı çizmeli Mehmet Ağa — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Vietnamese: Nguyễn Văn A — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Walloon: Tibî Meyî — any unknown or anonymous male person
• Yiddish: משה גרויס (moyshe groys) — any unknown or anonymous male person