John Doe

n. anonymous person, person whose identity is not known

For other uses, see John Doe (disambiguation). The name John Doe is generally used in the United States as a placeholder name for a male party in a legal action or legal discussion whose true identity is unknown. Male corpses or emergency room patients whose identity is unknown are also known by the name John Doe. A female who is not known is 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. Widely used in the United States of America, though rarely used in other English-speaking countries.
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Noun
1. a hypothetical average man
(synonym) Joe Blow, Joe Bloggs, man in the street
(hypernym) commoner, common man, common person
2. an unknown or fictitious man who is a party to legal proceedings
(hypernym) party
(classification) law, jurisprudence

name used for an unknown person Why do the application forms use "John Doe" as the name of the person who is applying for something?

Synonyms and related words:
Everyman, Jane Doe, Public, Richard Roe, alias, anonym, assumed name, body politic, citizenry, common man, commonwealth, community, community at large, estate, everybody, everyman, everyone, everywoman, false name, fictitious name, folk, folks, general public, gentry, men, nation, nationality, nom de guerre, nom de plume, nom de theatre, pen name, people, people in general, persons, polity, populace, population, professional name, pseudonym, public, society, stage name, state, world, you and me