John Doe

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Audio (AU) (file)

Proper noun

John Doe

A fictitious name used in legal documents for an unknown or anonymous 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.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Jane Doe (an unknown female)
Jane Roe (an unknown female)

Hyponyms

Juan Doe (an unknown Latino)

Derived terms

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
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)

Any unknown or anonymous 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)
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 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)

John Doe

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Synonyms

Antonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Translations

See also