This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
John Doe i Jane Doe <TAG1> are conventional names used in the US, Canada, Great Britain and other English-speaking countries to refer to unknown or anonymous person. They may appear in court documents, medical records, police reports, or news reports when a person's real name is unknown or needs to be hidden.
Where and why they are used
- In medicine: When a patient enters the hospital without documentation or consciousness — he is temporarily registered as John Doe (for a man) or Jane Doe (for a woman).
- In forensics: Police may name an unknown deceased or suspect by these names until an identity is established.
- In courts: Doe often used to refer to a party that for some reason cannot or does not need to be named (for example, in cases protecting privacy).
- In legal examples: “John Doe vs. State” or “Jane Doe vs. University” can be samples or real cases with anonymous participants.
- For educational purposes: names serve as neutral examples in law, computer science or ethics textbooks.
Where did it come from
The history of these names dates back to medieval England. In the 14th–XV centuries, fictitious parties — were used in court cases of land ownership John Doe as plaintiff and Richard Roe as defendant. Such fictitious names simplified legal procedures when an abstract case had to be discussed without real persons.
Later John Doe it became a universal designation “of any” — of a particularly unknown man, and a female variant Jane Doe appeared later, around the 18–XIX centuries.
Modern meaning
Today, “John Doe” has become synonymous with the average person in culture. In movies and TV series, anonymous heroes or victims of — are often referred to by this name, for example, in a movie Se7en (“Sim”) John Doe — is the pseudonym of a mysterious maniac.
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