I the US, there’s a few generic names used for various purposes. Are there equivalents in other (non-English speaking) countries?
Examples:
John Doe, Jane Doe - unidentified crime victims. Also John Does and Richard Roe as generic parties in a legal proceeding.
Joe Blow - generic everyman, used conversationally.
The Joneses - generic neighbors whom we try to keep up with.
I’m sure there are other examples in the US or UK. But does, say, Mexico have a e.g. “Juan/Juanita Doe” equivalent? France? Japan? And are there widely used generic names used in other countries that do not have equivalents in English speaking countries?
The UK does not traditionally use John Doe (and his relatives Jane Doe and Richard Roe), certainly not in the quasi-formal way that America does. However, we do have (or used to have: it may be a bit dated now) Joe Bloggs, who designates the uneducated, working class everyman (with overtones of contempt). A variant is Joe Blow. A less stigmatizing version of the British everyman is the man on the Clapham omnibus.
Someone removed the list from the wiki article on John Doe but, aha! They have change control!
For the Spanish list I’ve never heard Sultano; the lastnames “de Tal” and “de Cual” translate more or less as “Whatever”; Juan Español (John Spaniard) isn’t just any John Doe, it’s either a dude with stereotypically Spanish looks (for example, 90% of the male cast of Los Hombres de Paco) or the embodiment of Spanish dudes/people (depends on context).
“Otto Normalverbraucher” (Otto Average Consumer) is maybe similar to Joe Blow, someone who is, well, an average consumer
“Max Mustermann” and his sister Erika (hard to translate, Muster means pattern) are usually found on examples of documents or ID cards. They typically live in the Musterstraße.
Muster in this context means specimen. Erika Mustermann is the fictitious lady who is the bearer of an German identity card, passport, drivers license etc. for the purpose of demonstrating how these documents look like. “mann” is a generic syllable which is a part of many German family names (Zimmermann, Hoffmann, Hartmann etc.).
In Norwegian, Ola and Kari Nordmann do the job of standing in for the average person. “Nordmann” is the Norwegian word for a Norwegian.
When the person’s name is unknown, or is for some reason being withheld, “N.N.” is often used, or “Navn Navnesen” (“Name Name-son”). This often turns up on pictures of identity cards, for instance.
I’ve been led to believe that in South Africa “van der Merwe” (or “van de Merwe”) is kind of a generic name, like if you need a joke about a stereotypical Dutch-descended South African you call him “<something> van der Merwe”; sort of like naming an Irish guy in a story “Seamus O’Flanagan”. (I believe that District 9 was deliberately invoking this with Wikus van der Merwe, I think Wikus is also a semi-stereotypical name).
Not seen much now, but Tommy Atkins was the generic name for a British soldier from the 18th century. Later just the British ‘Tommy’.
There seems to be any number of theories as to where it came from. I always assumed that it was a fictitious name used as an example entry on something like a pay book.
According to Wikipedia, John Doe originated in the UK.
Ah OK, if I think of that as “Sample” it makes more sense in that kind of context. (Like if you get a wallet with a cardboard sample ID stuck in one of the pockets as an example, with fake information on it.)