List of placeholder names

This is a list of placeholder names (words that can refer to things, persons, places, numbers and other concepts whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, unknown or being deliberately withheld in the context in which they are being discussed) in various languages.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Arabic

Arabic uses Fulan and Fulana[h] (فلان / فلانة), translated as "someone" as placeholder for first names.^[6] When a last name is needed, Fulan is repeated, e.g. Fulan AlFulani and Fulana[h] AlFulaniyya[h] (فلان الفلاني / فلانة الفلانية). The use of Fulan has been borrowed into Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Turkish and Malay, as shown below. Moroccan Arabic uses "hadak" and "hadik", the masculine and feminine versions of "this", often followed by man, woman, place, or thing.^[1]

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

Inna ܐܸܢܵܐ or hinna ܗܸܢܵܐ are used for "thingy", "thingamabob", etc. "Ayka dre-li inna?" roughly translates to "Where did I put the thingamabob?"^[7] A verb of the root '-N-L (ܐܢܠ) likely derived from the noun is used to express actions similarly; for verbs that don't immediately come to mind. Though not directly translatable into English, e.g. "Si m’annil-leh" roughly translates to "go do that thing". Similarly to other Semitic languages, plān ܦܠܵܢ (masculine) and plānīthā ܦܠܵܢܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ (feminine) are used for "so-and-so".^[8][9]

Bengali

Bengali uses the universal placeholder ইয়ে iẏē. It is generally placed for a noun which cannot be recalled by the speaker at the time of speech. ইয়ে iẏē can be used for nouns, adjectives, and verbs (in conjunction with light verbs). অমুক amuk can also be a placeholder for people or objects.^[10] ফলনা/ফলানা falanā/falānā and its female equivalent ফলনি falani is a placeholder specific to people.^[11]

Danish

People

A variety of names can be used as placeholders in common parlance in Danish. The Danish use "Hr. & Fru Danmark" or Mr. & Mrs. Denmark to describe a generic couple of "average Joe".^[12]

In civil law, letters of the alphabet (A, B, C etc.) are used as placeholders for names. In criminal law, T is used for the accused (tiltalte), V is a non-law enforcement witness (vidne), B is a police officer (betjent) and F or FOU is the victim (forurettede). When there is more than one person in a role, a number is added, e.g. V1, V2 and B1, B2.^[13]

Navn Navnesen lit. Name Nameson

Places

Faraway countries are often called Langtbortistan, lit. Farawayistan. Langtbortistan was first used in 1959 in the weekly periodical Anders And & Co as Sonja Rindom's translation of Remotistan. Since 2001, it has been included in Retskrivningsordbogen.^[14]

Backwards places in the countryside are called Lars Tyndskids marker, lit. The fields of Lars Diarrhea.^[15] Similarly Hvor kragerne vender, lit. Where the crows turn around may also be used for denoting both a far away and backward place at the same time.

The expression langt pokker i vold is a placeholder for a place far far away e.g. he kicked the ball langt pokker i vold.^[16]

Egyptian

In Ancient Egypt, the names Hudjefa and Sedjes, literally meaning "erased" and "missing", were used by later Egyptian scribes in kings lists to refer to much older previous pharaohs whose names had by that time been lost.^[17][18]

English

Main article: List of names used as placeholders in English

Persons

"John Doe" or "Jane Doe" are often used as placeholder names in law.

Other more common and colloquial versions of names exist, including "Joe Shmoe",^[2] "Joe Blow",^[3] "Joe Bloggs",^[2] and "Tom, Dick and Harry" may be used to refer to a group of nobodies or unknown men. "John Smith", or "Jane Smith" is sometimes used as a placeholder on official documents. Unknown people are also called "John Doe", "Jane Doe", "John Q. Public", "whathisname", and "what’s-his-head".^[3][2][5] Nondescript usage would include "so-and-so." British English uses "Uncle Tom Cobley and All" for a list of names.^[2] Australian English uses "Fred Nerk" or "Fred Nerks".^[2]

"Alice and Bob" are fictional characters commonly used as placeholders for A and B in discussions about computer systems and protocols^[19][4], for convenience and to aid comprehension. The names are conventional, and where relevant may use an alliterative mnemonic such as "Mallory" for "malicious" to associate the name with the typical role of that person.

Locations

A common placeholder for locations is "Anytown".^[3] Other terms used are "sticks", "boondocks", "hicksville", and "podunk".^[3][5]

Things

English words to colloquially describe an object whose name the speaker does not know, does not recall, or does not care about include thingy, thingamajig, whatsit, dealybob, and doohickey.^[2][5]

French

"Schmilblick" is the placeholder for an object in France, derived from a 1960s radio show.^[2] French also uses trucmuche which translates as "thingy".^[1]

Galician

Research in Galician language (and Spanish and Portuguese)^[20] has classified the toponymic placeholders for faraway locations into four groups:

• related to blasphemies and bad words (no carallo, na cona)
• related to religious topics (onde Cristo deu as tres voces, onde San Pedro perdeu as chaves, onde a Virxe perdeu as zapatillas)
• local (Galician) real toponyms (majorly en Cuspedriños, but also en Coirós or en Petelos)
• international toponyms (na China, na Co(n)chinchina, en Tombuctú, en Fernando Poo, en Bosnia)

There is also a humoristic, infrequent element, as in en Castrocú. Some can add more than one element (na cona da Virxe). It is also noted the prevalence of the adjective quinto ("fifth").

German

Things

German also sports a variety of placeholders; some, as in English, contain the element Dings, Dingens (also Dingenskirchen for towns), Dingsda, Dingsbums, cognate with English thing.^[1]

A generic (and/or inferior) technical device (as opposed to i.e. a brand item) is often called a 08/15 (after the WWI-era MG 08 machine gun, whose extensive mass production gave it its "generic" character) pronounced in individual numbers null-acht-fünfzehn.^[21]

Persons

German identity card of Erika Mustermann (2024)

The German equivalent to the English John Doe for males and Jane Doe for females would be Max Mustermann (Max Exampleperson) and Erika Mustermann, respectively. There is also Krethi und Plethi, Hinz und Kunz, or Hans und Franz for everybody similar to the English Tom, Dick and Harry. For many years, Erika Mustermann has been used on the sample picture of German ID cards ("Personalausweis").^[22]

Hawaiian Pidgin

Hawaiian Pidgin uses the phrase "da kine" as a placeholder for unspecified people, places and things.^[23]

Hebrew

In Hebrew, the word זה (zeh, meaning 'this') is a placeholder for any noun.^[24] The term צ׳ופצ׳יק (chúpchik, meaning a protuberance, particularly the diacritical mark geresh), a borrowing of Russian чубчик (chúbchik, a diminutive of чуб chub "forelock") may refer to any small object or a small part of an object and may be translated as "thingie".^[25]

In ID and credit card samples, the usual name is ישראל ישראלי (Yisrael Yisraeli) for a man and ישראלה ישראלי (Yisraela Yisraeli) for a woman (these are actual first and last names) – similar to John and Jane Doe.^[26] The Hebrew word for anonymous, Almoni, is used as Ploni Almoni and Plonit Almonit, also similar to John and Jane Doe.^[27]

The traditional terms are פלוני (ploni) and its counterpart אלמוני (almoni) (originally mentioned in Ruth 4:1). The combined term פלוני אלמוני (ploni almoni) is also in modern official usage; for example, addressing guidelines by Israel postal authorities use ploni almoni as the addressee.^[28][29][30]

A placeholder for a time in the far past is תרפפ״ו (tarapapu), which resembles a year number in the Hebrew calendar. Years of the Hebrew calendar are commonly written in Hebrew numerals. For example, the year Anno Mundi 5726 would be written as ה׳תשכ״ו, which can be further abbreviated to תשכ״ו by omitting the first letter that stands for thousands. What makes תרפפ״ו unusual is the use of the same letter פ׳ twice. The word תרפפ״ו has the gematria of 766 = 400 (ת) + 200 (ר) + 80 (פ) + 80 (פ) + 6 (ו), but as a numeral, it would usually be written with the shorter sequence 400 (ת) + 300 (ש) + 60 (ס) + 6 (ו).^[31]

Icelandic

Persons

In Icelandic, the most common placeholder names are Jón Jónsson for men and Jóna Jónsdóttir for women. The common or average Icelander is referred to as meðaljón (lit. average John).^[32]

Time

An unspecified or forgotten date from long time ago is often referred to as sautján hundruð og súrkál (seventeen hundred and sauerkraut).^[33]

Indonesian

There is no single name that is widely accepted, but Joni (Indonesian for Johnny), and Budi are widely used for males in elementary textbooks. Ini ibu Budi (this is Budi's mother) is a common phrase in primary school's standardized reading textbook from 1980s until it was removed in 2014.^[34] Popular female placeholder names are Ani, Sinta, Sri, Dewi. Fulan (male) and Fulanah (female) are also often found, especially in religious articles (both are derived from Arabic).

Zaman kuda gigit besi (the era when horses bite iron) and zaman baheula indicates a very long time ago.^[35][36]

Irish

Things

Common Irish placeholders for objects include an rud úd "that thing over there", an rud sin eile "that other thing", and cá hainm seo atá air "whatever its name is".

Persons

In Irish, the common male name "Tadhg" is part of the very old phrase Tadhg an mhargaidh (Tadhg of the market-place) which combines features of the English phrases "average Joe" and "man on the street".

This same placeholder name, transferred to English-language usage and now usually rendered as Taig, became and remains a vitriolic derogatory term for an Irish Catholic and has been used by Unionists in Northern Ireland in such bloodthirsty slogans as "If guns are made for shooting, then skulls are made to crack. You've never seen a better Taig than with a bullet in his back"^[37] and "Don't be vague, kill a Taig".^[38]

Irish English speakers will often refer to a person whose name is unknown (or can’t be recalled) as “your man”.^{[citation needed]}

Italian

Persons

During discussions where multiple people are mentioned, the names Tizio, Caio e Sempronio [it] are the classic placeholder names used similarly to the english "Tom, Dick and Harry".^[39][40]

Japanese

名無しの権兵衛 Nanashi no Gonbei (lit. Nameless Gonbei) is a common placeholder name for a person whose name is unknown, comparable to John Doe in English. Gonbei is an old masculine given name that, due to being common in the countryside, came to have connotations of "hillbilly".

On documents or forms requiring a first and last name, 山田 太郎 Yamada Tarō and 山田 花子 Yamada Hanako are very commonly used example names for men and women respectively,^[41] comparable to John and Jane Smith in English. Both are generic but possible names in Japanese. Yamada, whose characters mean 'mountain' and 'rice field' respectively, is not the most common last name in Japan, ranking 12th nationwide in 2024; however, it is a mundane name that appears throughout the country.^[42] Tarō used to be a common name to give to firstborn sons; though it has declined in popularity, it is still sometimes given to boys.^[43] Hanako (literally "flower child") was once a common name for girls but is considered old-fashioned nowadays.^[44]

Sometimes, Yamada will be replaced with the name of a company, place, or a related word; for example, 東芝 太郎 Tōshiba Tarō for Toshiba, 駒場 太郎 Komaba Tarō for Tokyo University (one of its three main campuses is located in Komaba), or 納税 太郎 Nōzei Tarō on tax return forms (nōzei means "to pay taxes"; it is not a last name). Although Tarō and Hanako are by far the most popular due to their recognizability as example names, different first names, such as 一郎 Ichirō or 夏子 Natsuko for men and women respectively, may be used. In recent years, there have also been more unique placeholder names, such as 奈良 鹿男 Nara Shikao for the city of Nara (shika means "deer", which is a symbol of the city) and 有鳶 時音 Arutobi Jion for the company アルトビジョン Altovision.^[45][46]

When avoiding specifying a person, place or thing, 某 bō can be used as a modifier to a noun to mean 'unnamed' or 'certain/particular' (e.g. 某政治家 bō seijika, "a certain politician"). When referring to multiple people or when keeping people anonymous, it is also common to use A, B, C, etc., with or without honorifics. 子 ko may be added to the end for girls and women (e.g. A子 ēko).

The symbols 〇〇/○○, read まるまる marumaru (doubling of 丸 maru meaning 'circle') is a common placeholder when various values are possible in its place or to censor information, similar to underscores, asterisks, <blank> or [redacted] in English. It can be used in place of any noun or adjective. The symbols ××, read チョメチョメ chomechome, ペケペケ pekepeke or バツバツ batsubatsu are also used, although chomechome is sometimes avoided due to having sexual connotations. The symbols are usually doubled but can be repeated more times. Placeholder symbols are sometimes read ほにゃらら honyarara.

Other filler words include 何とか nantoka, 何たら nantara and 何何 naninani. These can be used for a person whose name has been temporarily forgotten (e.g. なんとかちゃん nantoka-chan, roughly "Miss What's-her-name" in the third person). 何とか nantoka and 何とやら nantoyara are sometimes used when purposefully omitting a word from a saying (e.g. 何とかも木から落ちる nantoka mo ki kara ochiru instead of 猿も木から落ちる saru mo ki kara ochiru, meaning "even monkeys fall from trees"; the word 猿 saru meaning "monkey" has been replaced with 何とか nantoka meaning "something" or "you-know-what", although "monkey" is still implied).

誰々 daredare or 誰某 daresore for people, 何処何処 dokodoko or 何処其処 dokosoko for places and 何れ何れ doredore or 何其 doresore for things that are unnamed or forgotten are also used.

In computing, starting in the late 1980s, hoge (ほげ, no literal meaning) or hogehoge (doubled) were used much like foo and bar, although their use seems to have decreased in recent years.^[47]

Korean

Hong Gildong, the name of a famous outlaw, has become a placeholder name in Korea.^[48]

Latin

Emperor Justinian's codification of Roman law follows the custom of using "Titius" and "Seius" as names for Roman citizens, and "Stichus" and "Pamphilus" as names for slaves.^[49]

Latvian

Sample Latvian identity cards contain the following sample names:

• Māra Paraudziņa^[50] (Mara Example) for women
• Andris Paraudziņš^[51] (Andris Example) for men

Lojban

The constructed language Lojban uses the series brodV (namely broda, brode, brodi, brodo, brodu), ko'V (namely ko'a, ko'e, ko'i, ko'o, ko'u) and fo'V (namely fo'a, fo'e, fo'i, fo'o, fo'u) as pro-forms with explicitly assigned antecedents.^[52] However, Lojban speakers had begun to use them as placeholder words, especially in technical discussions on the language. To distinguish both uses, some special markers were created to unambiguously differentiate between anaphoric and metasyntactic usage.^[53][54]

Polish

Things

The noun wihajster (from German Wie heißt er? lit. 'What is he called?') can refer to a (usually) handheld tool or device.^[55]

A Polish driving license issued to "Jan Kowalski".

Persons

A universal placeholder name for a man is Jan Kowalski (kowal meaning "(black)smith"); for a woman, Anna Kowalska. A second unspecified person would be called Nowak ("Newman"), with the choice of first name being left to the author's imagination, often also Jan for a man; this surname is unisex. Jan is one of the most popular male first names in Polish, and Kowalski and Nowak are the most popular Polish surnames.

Romanian

La mama dracului or "where the devil's mother dwells" is the placeholder for a location in Romania.^[2]

Russian

Universal

A large number of placeholder words for people, things, and actions are derived from Russian profanity (mat), as may be found in multiple dictionaries of Russian slang.^[56]

An informal placeholder (for persons, places, etc.) is "такой-то ^[ru]" ("takoy-to" (masculine form; feminine: takaya-to; neuter: takoye-to), meaning "this or that", "such and such", etc.).

Persons

A historical placeholder for a personal name used in legal documents and prayers is "имярек ^[ru]" ("imyarek"), derived from the archaic expression "imya rek" meaning "having said the name". The word entered into a common parlance as well.

To refer to an unknown person, the words "nekto", "kto-to", etc., equivalent to "someone", are used, as in "Someone stole my wallet".

Placeholders for personal names include variations on names Иван (Ivan), Пётр (Pyotr/Peter), and Сидор (Sidor), such as Иван Петрович Сидоров (Ivan Petrovich Sidorov) for a full name, or Иванов (Ivanov) for a last name; deliberately fake name-patronymic-surname combinations use one of them for all three, with the most widely used being Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov.

The name Vasya Pupkin (Russian: Вася Пупкин) may be used as a placeholder name for an average random or unknown person in the colloquial speech.^[57][58]

Places

• Various city names are often employed as placeholders. For instance, to denote a remote, obscure place:
  • Тьмутаракань (Tmutarakan, an ancient Crimean city which sounds in modern Russian something like "dark cockroach city", тьма таракан)
  • Зажопинск (Zazhopinsk, "city beyond the ass")
  • Мухосранск ^[ru] (Mukhosransk, "fly shit city").
• The capital of the Russian backwoods is Урюпинск (Uryupinsk, a town in central Russia), although Бобруйск (Babruysk, a Belarusian city) has gained its popularity in the Russian Internet community.
• In some occasions in literature (a novel by famous Russian and Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol) unknown or deliberately unidentified places are referred to as ...ское место (featuring a widespread adjective ending ской).
• Latin N is sometimes used as a placeholder for the actual name of the site, e.g. город N ^[ru] ("city N").

Spanish

Time

• Indefinite time in the past:
  • tiempos de Maricastaña, "times of Maricastaña", probably in reference to María Castaña [es], a little known 14th century woman.^[59]
  • cuando reinó Carolo, "when Charles reigned". The origin is unclear, the most viable hypothesis is that it refers to Charles III of Spain: on a frontispiece of a gate in Alcalá de Henares in the Community of Madrid there used to be an inscription "REGE CAROLO III ANNO MDCCLXXVIII". While the king ruled in 18th century, the Latin text and Roman numerals gave an impression of antiquity.^[59]

Spanish (Europe)

Persons

Placeholder names in the Spanish language might have a pejorative or derogatory feeling to them, depending on the context.

• Perico (masculine) Perico de los palotes (a fool with (drum)sticks) or Juan de los palotes. The fool in question was a jester with a drum who accompanied a town crier, with the latter collecting salary and tips for both of them, and taking lion's share Hence the indignation implied in the phrases, such as "Who do you think I am, a fool with sticks?". "El Perico de los Palotes" was one of numerous pseudonyms of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera.^[60][59]
• (feminine) Rita la Cantaora ("Rita the Singer") in reference to a woman who would do something one doesn't want to do oneself: "Let Rita la Cantaora". Rita de Cantaora was actually Rita Giménez García, see her article about the origin of the expression.^[59]
• Fulano/a (from Arabic fulán) is the default placeholder name for a human (the female version Fulana should be used carefully as it is also slang for "prostitute", but the diminutive form Fulanita is safe). Fulano de Tal is the equivalent of John Doe. Fulano is cognate with the Biblical Hebrew term ploni (see above).
• Mengano (from the Arabic man kán).
• Zutano (from the Castilian word citano from the Latin scitanus "known").
• Perengano (from the combination of the very common last name of Pérez and Mengano).

When several placeholders are needed together, they are used in the above order, e.g. "Fulano, Mengano y Zutano". All placeholder words are also used frequently in diminutive form, Fulanito/a, Menganito/a, Perenganito/a or Zutanito/a.

The words "tío" and "tía" (uncle and aunt respectively) can be used to refer to any unspecified male or female. It is also used between friends to call each other (equivalent to "dude").

Places

• El quinto pino (lit. "the fifth pine"), el quinto carajo, la quinta porra, la quinta puñeta or el quinto infierno are colloquially used to refer to an unspecified remote place. E.g.: Nos perdimos y acabamos en el quinto pino ("We got lost and ended up in the fifth pine")
• Donde Cristo perdió el gorro/las sandalias ("where Christ lost his cap/his sandals") and donde San Pedro perdió el mechero ("where Saint Peter lost his lighter") E.g.: Trotski fue exiliado a Alma Ata, que está, más o menos, donde Cristo perdió el gorro ("Trotski was exiled to Alma Ata, which is, more or less, where Christ lost his cap").
• En las Chimbambas (or Quimbambas) is, according to the Real Academia, a colloquial "distant or imprecise place".^[61] Also used with the intensifier lejanas ("faraway"), thus En las lejanas Chimbambas ("in faraway Chimbamba-land" or "in faraway Chimbambistan").
• En el culo del mundo ("in the ass end of the world") doesn't have the same meaning as in English. It is only mildly derogatory, and its primary meaning is the same as "back of nowhere".^[62]
• A tomar por culo is a phrase that originally meant ("[go] take it up the ass"), but has been lexicalised into meaning "go to hell", "send something or someone to hell" or "forget about it", as documented in the dictionary of the Real Academia.^[62]

Spanish (South and Central America)

The name "Juan Pérez" is used like "Joe Doe" in Mexico and Bolivia.^[2]

Welsh

Welsh uses betingalw (or the respectful bechingalw), literally "what you call", meaning whatchamacallit.^[63]

See also

• List of terms referring to an average person