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.
Arabic Arabic uses and ( / , translated as "someone") as placeholder for first names. When a last name is needed, Fulan is repeated, e.g. and ( / ). The use of has been borrowed into Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Turkish and Malay. Moroccan Arabic uses "hadak" and "hadik", the masculine and feminine versions of "this", often followed by man, woman, place, or thing.
X ben X (, or ) is used in Morocco by health and judicial authorities in cases where an individual's identity cannot be determined. These cases include amnesiacs, suspects, hospital patients, and homeless people. In 2009, 80,000 abandoned orphans had the placeholder name of X ben X and 100 unidentified bodies are buried each year in Morocco under this status.
Argentina María Victoria Villareal, Manuela Martínez, and Manuela Fernández have been used in National Identity Cards (DNI) specimens. Virgilio Portillo is a non-citizen, typically a Paraguayan. Juan Pérez is used colloquially as a generic male full name. Fulano, Mengano, Zutano, three fake names, were used in the past as 'some guy,' as in "On his way to work he ran into Fulano [some guy] and they spoke for a while."
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Inna ܐܸܢܵܐ or hinna are used for "thingy", "thingamabob", etc. "Ayka dre-li inna?" roughly translates to "Where did I put the thingamabob?" A verb of the root '-N-L () 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 (masculine) and plānīthā (feminine) are used for "so-and-so".
Australia In Australia, the term Man on the Clapham omnibus inspired the New South Wales and Victorian equivalents, "the man on the Bondi tram" (a now disused tram route in Sydney), "the man on the Bourke Street tram" (Melbourne),. and "the ordinary person on the Belconnen omnibus" (Canberra).
Austria Hans Meier / Maier / Mayer Herr und Frau Österreicher (Mr and Mrs Austrian)
Belgium (Dutch) Jan met de pet ("John with the cap")
Bengali Bengali uses the universal placeholder . It is generally placed for a noun which cannot be recalled by the speaker at the time of speech. can be used for nouns, adjectives, and verbs (in conjunction with light verbs). can also be a placeholder for people or objects.অমুক Accessible Dictionary of Bangla Academy / / and its female equivalent is a placeholder specific to people.ফলনা Accessible Dictionary of Bangla Academy
Bulgaria "Сульо и пульо" (sulyo i pulyo, Poor and Blind), used for "anyone and everyone", albeit in a more insulting sense, implying that the person/people you're talking about are lowly, ignorant, of little means, or otherwise unqualified. Another term with a similar connotation to the one above is "куцо и сакато" (kutso i sakato, Limp and Lame). Another term for "anyone and everyone" is "Иван, Драган и Петкан" (Ivan, Dragan and Petkan) or just "Драган и Петкан" (Dragan and Petkan), this time using names. Ivan is the most common name in Bulgarian, while Dragan and Petkan are chosen due to them rhyming with the name Ivan. This term is more generally applicable to "everyone" or "the average person" due to its relative lack of a negative connotation. "Филанкишия(та)" (Filankishiya(ta), the unknown one), a term that could mean "anyone" but more directly means "someone non-existent". Both the indefinite form, филанкишия, and the definite form, филанкишията, are used. Note: All of the terms listed for Bulgarian are strictly colloquialisms and hold no formal or official status.
Chinese In Chinese, the placeholder names are usually and , from two of the most common surnames in China and the numbers three and four. They come from Wang Anshi's (). They do not have strong gender connotations. They are sometimes extended to other surname-number pairings; examples include (Líu Yī), (Chén Èr), (Zhāng Sān), (Lǐ Sì), (Wáng Wǔ), (Zhào Lìu), (Sūn Qī), (Zhōu Bā), (Wǔ Jiǔ), and (Zhèng Shí), following the scheme of a common surname followed by a number.
(Jyutping: siu2 ming4, Wugniu: 3siau-min2) is also a common generic placeholder name in Chinese, particularly in educational or comedic situations. In Taiwan, it can refer to people from mainland China.
(pinyin: Mǒumǒu, Jyutping: mau5 mau5, Wugniu: 4meu-meu4), (pinyin: Mǒujiǎ, Jyutping: mau5 gaap3, Wugniu: 4meu-ciaq7), (pinyin: Mǒuyǐ, Jyutping: mau5 jyut3, Wugniu: 4meu-iq7), etc., equivalent to "Person A, Person B, etc."; meaning "a certain". Heavenly stems are often used to number the unspecified people.
Mainland China (Dōngdōng), (Niǔniǔ), (Níní) for children
Hong Kong (Jyutping: can4 daai6 man4) (male) and (Jyutping: can4 siu2 mei5) (female) (Jyutping: lok6 wing5 cing4) or Lok Wing Ching, the name currently used on the sample identity card.
In Hong Kong, there is an expression equivalent to "Man on the Clapham omnibus": "the man on the Shau Kei Wan tram".
Taiwan (pinyin: Zhìmíng, POJ: Chì-bêng) (male) and (pinyin: Chūnjiāo, POJ: Chhun-kiau) (female)
Colombia Pepito or Pepita Pérez (lit. "Little Joe Pérez" or "Little Josephine Pérez"), used due to its alliterative sound.
Czechia Jan Novák ("John/Jon Newman"), Jana Nováková ("Jane Newman"); the most common Czech name and surname Otakar Všudybyl ("Ottokar Waseverywhere") and Jana Zcestovalá ("Jane Welltraveled"), used on travelcards or ID cards samples BFU (Běžný Franta Uživatel, "Basic User Frank"), meaning "brain free user"
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".
In civil law, letters of the alphabet (, , etc.) are used as placeholders for names. In criminal law, is used for the accused (), is a non-law enforcement witness (), is a police officer () and or is the victim (). When there is more than one person in a role, a number is added, e.g. , and , .
Places Faraway countries are often called . was first used in 1959 in the weekly periodical as Sonja Rindom's translation of Remotistan. Since 2001, it has been included in .
Backwards places in the countryside are called , lit. The fields of Lars Diarrhea. Similarly , 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 is a placeholder for a place far far away e.g. he kicked the ball .
Hr. og Fru Hakkebøf (Mr. and Mrs. Beef Patty)
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.Alan H. Gardiner: The royal canon of Turin. Griffith Institute of Oxford, Oxford (UK) 1997, ; page 15 & Table I.Wolfgang Helck: Untersuchungen zur Thinitenzeit (= Ägyptologische Abhandlungen (ÄA), vol. 45). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987, , p.109.
Estonia Inimene tänavalt (Person from the street)
Finland Matti Meikäläinen (male) Maija Meikäläinen (female).
French "Schmilblick" is the placeholder for an object in France, derived from a 1960s radio show. French also uses which translates as "thingy".
Usable as a common word: Pierre-Paul-Jacques (with the meaning of "Someone"); Random people (similar to Average John/Jane): Monsieur/Madame Tout-le-monde (Mr/Mrs Everyone), Untel/Unetelle (Mr/Mrs NoName; literally, "a such" and thus similar to the English "so-and-so"), Madame Michu (only female), (M./Mme) Tartempion (familiar and a little satirical); Other: (M./Mme) Machin/Machine (familiar terms, used when one does not wish take the trouble to think of a more specific term); (Un) Gazier originally, a man who worked in gas transport; nowadays, it is a familiar way to say "Someone" (mostly for a man; this term is rare for women, and in such case, the correct word is the feminine form "Gazière"). (Un) Quidam: someone whose identity is unknown or cannot be disclosed. See also :fr:wikt:Tartempion#Synonymes
Galician Research in Galician language (and Spanish and Portuguese) has classified the toponymic placeholders for faraway locations into four groups: related to blasphemies and bad words (, ) related to religious topics (, , ) local (Galician) real toponyms (majorly , but also or ) international toponyms (, , , , ) There is also a humoristic, infrequent element, as in . Some can add more than one element (). The prevalence of the adjective ("fifth") is also notable.
German Things German also sports a variety of placeholders; some, as in English, contain the element , (also for towns), , , cognate with English thing.
A generic (and/or inferior) technical device (as opposed to i.e. a brand item) is often called a (after the WWI-era MG 08 machine gun, whose extensive mass production gave it its "generic" character) pronounced in individual numbers .
Persons
The German equivalent to the English John Doe for males and Jane Doe for females would be (Max Exampleperson) and , respectively; the Mustermann names have been used in this role since 1978. For many years, Erika Mustermann has been used on the sample picture of German identity cards (Personalausweis)."In 1987/88, Bundesdruckerei launched the central personalisation of identity cards and passports. This innovation gave us the first Ms Mustermann: Erika Mustermann, née Gabler, advertised the new ID and passport card from 1987 to 1997 and advertises the new credit card-sized ID cards today. The lady with the blonde fringe, photographed in plain black-and-white, was Germany's first fictitious model citizen. A large fan club grew during this Ms Mustermann's long term of office, and they still sing her praises today on a special homepage created in her honour." The changing Ms Mustermann over the years More recently, other first names have been used in specific contexts, including for a sample children's passport, for a sample travel document for foreigners, and as a gender-neutral form. There is also , , or for everybody similar to the English Tom, Dick and Harry. Otto Normalverbraucher (Otto Normal Consumer) is used for economics-related purposes.
Hawaiian Pidgin Hawaiian Pidgin uses the phrase "da kine" as a placeholder for unspecified people, places and things.
Hebrew In Hebrew, the word (, meaning 'this') is a placeholder for any noun. The term (, meaning a protuberance, particularly the diacritical mark geresh), a borrowing of Russian (, a diminutive of "forelock") may refer to any small object or a small part of an object and may be translated as "thingie".Word of the Day Chupchik 'וּפְּצִ'יק, Haaretz', Marchg 3, 2013
In ID and credit card samples, the usual name is () for a man and () for a woman (these are actual first and last names) – similar to John and Jane Doe. The Hebrew word for anonymous, , is used as and , also similar to John and Jane Doe.
The traditional terms are () and its counterpart () (originally mentioned in Ruth 4:1). The combined term () is also in modern official usage; for example, addressing guidelines by Israel postal authorities use as the addressee.Israeli postal documentation with the Universal Postal Union.