List of placeholder names
This is a list of placeholder names in various languages.
Arabic
Arabic uses Fulan and Fulana, translated as "someone" as placeholder for first names. When a last name is needed, Fulan is repeated, e.g. Fulan AlFulani and Fulana AlFulaniyya. 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.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?" 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 ܦܠܵܢ and plānīthā ܦܠܵܢܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ are used for "so-and-so".Bengali
uses the universal placeholder ইয়ে. It is generally placed for a noun which cannot be recalled by the speaker at the time of speech. ইয়ে can be used for nouns, adjectives, and verbs. অমুক can also be a placeholder for people or objects. ফলনা/ফলানা / and its female equivalent ফলনি is a placeholder specific to people.Chinese
In Chinese the placeholder names are usually labels=no. It comes from Wang Anshi's 拟寒山拾得. It does not have strong gender label. 小明 is also a common placeholder name in Chinese. In Taiwan it can mean people from mainland China.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 are used as placeholders for names. In criminal law, T is used for the accused, V is a non-law enforcement witness, B is a police officer and F or FOU is the victim. When there is more than one person in a role, a number is added, e.g. V1, V2 and B1, B2.
Places
Faraway countries are often called Langtbortistan. Langtbortistan was first used in 1959 in the weekly periodical Donald Duck as Sonja Rindom's translation of Remotistan. Since 2001, it has been included in Retskrivningsordbogen.Backwards places in the countryside are called Lars Tyndskids marker, lit. The fields of Lars Diarrhea.
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.
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.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", "Joe Blow", "Joe Bloggs", 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". Nondescript usage would include "so-and-so." British English uses "Uncle Tom Cobley and All" for a list of names. Australian English uses "Fred Nerk" or "Fred Nerks".
"Alice and Bob" are fictional characters commonly used as placeholders for A and B in discussions about computer systems and protocols, 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". Other terms used are "sticks", "boondocks", "hicksville", and "podunk".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.French
"Schmilblick" is the placeholder for an object in France, derived from a 1960s radio show. French also uses trucmuche which translates as "thingy".Galician
Research in Galician language has classified the toponymic placeholders for faraway locations into four groups:- related to blasphemies and bad words
- related to religious topics
- local real toponyms
- international toponyms
German
Things
German also sports a variety of placeholders; some, as in English, contain the element Dings, Dingens, Dingsda, Dingsbums, cognate with English thing.A generic technical device is often called a 08/15 pronounced in individual numbers null-acht-fünfzehn.
Persons
The German equivalent to the English John Doe for males and Jane Doe for females would be Max Mustermann 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 identity cards.Hawaiian Pidgin
uses the phrase "da kine" as a placeholder for unspecified people, places and things.Hebrew
In Hebrew, the word זה is a placeholder for any noun. The term צ׳ופצ׳יק, a borrowing of Russian чубчик may refer to any small object or a small part of an object and may be translated as "thingie".In ID and credit card samples, the usual name is ישראל ישראלי for a man and ישראלה ישראלי for a woman – similar to John and Jane Doe. The Hebrew word for anonymous, Almoni, is used as Ploni Almoni and Plonit Almonit, also similar to John and Jane Doe.
The traditional terms are פלוני and its counterpart אלמוני . The combined term פלוני אלמוני is also in modern official usage; for example, addressing guidelines by Israel postal authorities use ploni almoni as the addressee.
A placeholder for a time in the far past is תרפפ״ו, 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 + 200 + 80 + 80 + 6 , but as a numeral, it would usually be written with the shorter sequence 400 + 300 + 60 + 6 .
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.Time
An unspecified or forgotten date from long time ago is often referred to as sautján hundruð og súrkál.Indonesian
There is no single name that is widely accepted, but Joni, and Budi are widely used for males in elementary textbooks. Ini ibu Budi is a common phrase in primary school's standardized reading textbook from 1980s until it was removed in 2014. Popular female placeholder names are Ani, Sinta, Sri, Dewi. Fulan and Fulanah are also often found, especially in religious articles.Zaman kuda gigit besi and zaman baheula indicates a very long time ago.
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 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" and "Don't be vague, kill a Taig".
Irish English speakers will often refer to a person whose name is unknown as “your man”.
Italian
Persons
During discussions where multiple people are mentioned, the names are the classic placeholder names used similarly to the english "Tom, Dick and Harry".Japanese
名無しの権兵衛 Nanashi no 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, 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. 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. Hanako was once a common name for girls but is considered old-fashioned nowadays.
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, or 納税 太郎 Nōzei Tarō on tax return forms. 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 and 有鳶 時音 Arutobi Jion for the company アルトビジョン Altovision.
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'. 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.
The symbols 〇〇/○○, read まるまる marumaru is a common placeholder when various values are possible in its place or to censor information, similar to underscores, asterisks,
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. 何とか nantoka and 何とやら nantoyara are sometimes used when purposefully omitting a word from a saying.
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 or hogehoge were used much like foo and bar, although their use seems to have decreased in recent years.