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This page uses content from the John Doe biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

For other uses, see John Doe (disambiguation).

In the United States, the name John Doe is typically used as a placeholder name for a male party in a legal action or legal discussion whose true 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 often 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. The Doe names are often, though not always, used for anonymous or unknown defendants. Another set of names often used for anonymous parties, particularly plaintiffs, are Richard Roe for males and Jane Roe for females (as in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision Roe v. Wade). 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.

Even outside the specific legal context, the name John Doe is often used in general discourse and popular culture to refer to an unknown person. A famous example is the Frank Capra film Meet John Doe.

The "John Doe" custom dates back to the reign of England's King Edward III, during the legal debate over something called the Acts of Ejectment. This debate involved a hypothetical landowner, referred to as "John Doe," who leased land to another man, the equally fictitious "Richard Roe," who then took the land as his own and "ejected," or evicted, poor "John Doe."

These names -- John Doe and Richard Roe -- had no particular significance, aside from "Doe" (a female deer) and "Roe" (a small species of deer found in Europe) being commonly known nouns at the time. But the debate became a hallmark of legal theory, and the name "John Doe" in particular gained wide currency in both the legal world and general usage as a generic stand-in for any unnamed person. "John Doe" and "Richard Roe" are, to this day, mandated in legal procedure as the first and second names given to unknown defendants in a case (followed, if necessary, by "John Stiles" and "Richard Miles"). The name "Jane Doe," a logical female equivalent, is used in many state jurisdictions, but if the case is federal, the unnamed defendant is dubbed "Mary Major."

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.

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.

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 sixth Nightmare on Elm Street film. He was the last teenager in the fictional town of Springwood, Ohio.
• Johnny Dough, a play on "John 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'.
• The phonetically similar "John Dough" was used by the Joker, a DC Comics villain. This pseudonym is notable because in this guise, he was able to convince Snapper Carr, the mascot of the Justice League, to give up the location of their original base, the Secret Sanctuary, prompting a move to the more famous JLA satellite.
• John Doe is a character in the book "jPod" by Douglas Coupland.
• Many unidentified victims in the CSI TV-Series are called John and Jane Doe until their ID is found.
• In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Naked Snake uses the pseudonym "John Doe" when asked for his name by Para-Medic. In turn, when Snake asks Para-Medic for her name, she responds with "Jane Doe". During the final confrontation with Ocelot, when the two exchange names, Snake identifies himself as "John" to Ocelot's "Shalashaska".
• John Doe is the title of a Prison Break episode (Season 2, Episode 36)

See also

• Everyman
• Legal fiction
• Numerius Negidius
• A. N. Other
• N.N. (Nomen nescio)
• Pseudonym
• John Smith
• John Q. Public
• Alice and Bob
• Keeping up with the Joneses
• Placeholder name
• Alan Smithee
• Jock Tamson's bairns
• Fnu Lnu
• Ola Nordmann

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