# John Doe



## cheshire

Could you tell me what "John Doe" "Jane Doe" correspond to in your familiar languages?


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## J.F. de TROYES

*In French :* 
Monsieur X , Madame X,  this letter is used in justice : "plainte contre X" means "action against person(s) unknown".
Usually : Monsieur Untel, Madame Unetelle.
Colloquially : Monsieur Machin , Madame Machin, Tartenpion. these words, especially the last one are rather pejorative and despising.


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## Outsider

Portuguese: Fulano. Other invented manes may also be used sporadically, such as José Silva (a stereotypically common name in Portuguese).


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## jaxlarus

I think you'll find what you're looking for here.
In Cyprus we'd usually say "ο Κωστής, ο Γιαννής" which are common names. An official alternative in Greece would be "ο τάδε, ο δείνα" which used to be indefinite pronouns.


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## deine

In Lithuania we usually use these two: _Jonas Jonaitis_ or _Petras Petraitis. _But people who really names are like these protested about that. 
And now we should use: _Vardenis Pavardenis. _


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## Chazzwozzer

*Turkish: *falanca kişi


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## ukuca

*Turkish:* If it's a criminal case we say "kimliği bilinmeyen kişi" (anonymous person) or "kimliği saptanamamış/belirlenememiş kişi" (unidentified person).


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## kusurija

deine said:


> In Lithuania we usually use these two: _Jonas Jonaitis_ or _Petras Petraitis. _But people whose really names are like these protested about that.
> And now we should use: _Vardenis Pavardenis. _


_Vardenis Pavardenis _is a masculine variant. 
The feminine variant is sometimes used _Liepa Senoji _It means "Old Lime/Linden".

Czech:
Josef Novák (the most popular name+surname) So in Czech this is the most frequent combination.


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## Montaigne

I think Ceshire refers to the man in the street, the ordinary man  
Joe Schmuck in american yddish).


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## sound shift

In England we say Joe Bloggs.


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## noncasper

Vietnamese:John doe: người ta
Mr so-and-so : ông A bà B gì đó
to do so-and-so : Làm thế/cái này thế/cái nọ


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## sarcie

German uses "Max Mustermann"

("Muster" can mean sample or pattern)


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## OneStroke

In Chinese (standard): 張三 (Zhāng Sān), 李四 (Lǐ Sì)

In Cantonse: 陳大文 (Can4 Daai6 Man4, usually romanised Chan Tai Man)


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## apmoy70

The typical/commonman Greek is «Γεώργιος Έλληνας» /ʝe'orʝios 'elinas/ lit. "George Greek" (George is considered the most common Greek first name for males, with John close second)


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## Tamar

In Hebrew you can use אלמוני [almoni], פלוני [ploni] or פלוני אלמוני [ploni almoni] together.


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## ancalimon

Turkish:  Sarı Çizmeli Mehmet Ağa

Yellow booted Master Mehmet


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## tFighterPilot

Tamar said:


> In Hebrew you can use אלמוני [almoni], פלוני [ploni] or פלוני אלמוני [ploni almoni] together.


Also in some cases there's ישראל ישראלי /isra'el isra'eli/


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## Tamar

> Also in some cases there's ישראל ישראלי /isra'el isra'eli/


I've seen it written in some places online, but I've never heard that used in my life. I have to ask if you have heard this used?


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## arielipi

It actually means the israeli john doe  also very rare palmoni(stressed on the pal) פלמוני


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## 810senior

How is *John Doe* called in your language?
I know Wikipedia already has a detail list about this but I want to know some explanation.

Thanks in advance!

Japanese:
名無しの権兵衛_nanashi no gonbee_ : Gonbe, the Nameless
This word points to the person who has no name or whose name we don't know.
Gonbe is the name most of peasants have, so sometimes it means the pejorative about persons in a low position.

Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread


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## AutumnOwl

It depends on what you mean with John Doe. If it's to name an unknown person, then it's usually *N.N.* (from Latin _nomen nescio_ (name unknown) or _notetur nomen_ (name to be written here). If it's about the average person, then it's _Medelsvensson_ (average Svensson), as Svensson was considered as the most common surname. Today according to statistics the most common surname for males are Johansson and for females Andersson.


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## ger4

sarcie said:


> German uses "Max Mustermann"
> 
> ("Muster" can mean sample or pattern)


There is also a female version: _Erika Mustermann_.

Sometimes _Otto Normalverbraucher_ is used as well, in the sense of 'the average consumer'.
_Otto - an old-fashioned German (male) name
normal - normal
Verbraucher - consumer_


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## Armas

In Finnish Matti Meikäläinen and Maija Meikäläinen.

Matti = a male name
Maija = a female name
meikäläinen = of our people/group, colloquially in singular I, in plural we

Similar to Swedish Medelsvensson, Finnish has perus-Virtanen.


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## Penyafort

In Catalan, when used in legal documents, these initials are used:

*s. n.* (= sense nom 'without name')

*n. n. */ *NN *(from Latin _nomen nescio _'I do not know the name')


Regarding the use of common names for similar expressions, two traditional ones come to my mind.

*En Pau, en Pere i en Berenguera*. Literally: Paul, Peter and Berengar. Meaning 'anybody, no matter who, X, Y and Z'.
*De Joans, Joseps i ases, n'hi ha a totes les cases. *Johns, Josephs and donkeys/fools, you find them in every home.

Frank Capra's film _Meet John Doe _was dubbed into Catalan with the title *L'home del carrer*, meaning 'Man in the street', a reference to your average Joe.


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## Encolpius

Hungarian, Czech: NN or XY
Cheers!


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## sound shift

BE, particularly the BE of older speakers, sometimes uses "any old Tom, Dick or Harry" to mean "anyone". "I wouldn't give my cat to any old Tom, Dick or Harry. I'd want to be sure that he/she was going to a good home."


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## ThomasK

In Dutch: _*Jan Modaal*_, maybe *Jan met de pet* (with the cap)...


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## SuperXW

OneStroke said:


> In Chinese (standard): 張三 (Zhāng Sān), 李四 (Lǐ Sì)


张三 "Zhang, the third (the third child of Zhang's family)", 李四 “Li, the forth (the forth child of Li's family)”  are informal ways. 
In Mainland China, other common informal examples include 小明 "little-Ming" for a boy, 小红 "little-Hong" for a girl, 那谁 “that-who”, for someone you don't remember his name.
Formal documents prefer to use 甲, 乙, 丙 as "A", "B", "C". Or 某某 for someone whose name is not to be mentioned.


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