No, we are not referring to the failed tv series from Fox. We’re referring to the actual person. Well, it makes sense that you don’t know him considering John Doe is the generic name given to people as a placeholder and commonly used for those who haven’t been identified. Have you ever wondered what other countries use in place of John Doe? For example, many Latin American countries use “Fulano”, “Fulano de Tal”, and Juan Perez. Click below for many other examples.

Arabia - Fulan (Arabic) (female equivalent: Fulanah), Ellan as a partner. Majhoul. Taken further, it can become Fulan al-Fulani, or even Fulan ibn Fulan al-Fulani, depending on the intention of the speaker.

Canada - G. Raymond (male/female, mostly on credit cards and ID, used as it could be either an anglophone or francophone name), John Jones, Jos Bleau (Quebec, French adaptation of Joe Blow), John Smith

Germany - Hans/Max/Otto and Erika Mustermann (Muster meaning ’sample’, “-mann” is common as suffix in German names), which is frequently found on ‘examples’ of addresses or passports/IDs, as well as Lieschen Müller, Otto Normalverbraucher, Meier/Müller/Schulze, Hinz & Kunz, NN (nomen nescio= “name unknown”, nomen nominandum=”still to be mentioned is” used in Germany as placeholder in university catalogues and if the name of the prospective person is not yet known)

Italy - Mario Rossi, Pinco Pallino, Tal dei Tali, Tizio, Caio, Sempronio.

Mexico - Juan/Juanito/Juanita Pérez, Fulano de Tal, Mengano, Perengano, Sutano

New Zealand - Joe Bloggs, John Doe, Bob Smith

Spain - Fulano, Mengano, Zutano, Sultano, Perengano (in that order), female versions end -a instead of -o, diminutives end -ito, -ita, surname for the first person is “de Tal”, “de Cual” is used as surname for a second person; Pepe Pérez, Perico de los Palotes, Don Nadie, Juan Nadie, Juan Español, Rita la pollera.

Swahili - Fulani

USA - John Doe, Jane Doe, John Q. Public, Joe Blow, Joe Schmoe, Joe Sixpack, John Smith, Eddie Punchclock (for blue-collar workers), Joe Botts (particularly in New York City), J. S. Ragman (U. S. Navy), Vinnie Boombotz (particularly in New York City)

Venezuela - Fulano, Fulano de Tal, Sutano, Mengano, Perencejo, Pedro Perez, Juan de los Palotes, Juan Bimba

It’s interesting to see the correlation between countries that speak the same language(s) and the names used for people that are not identified. For the most part, countries like Canada, United Kingdom, and the US use variations of the same name. This is even more apparent in Latin American countries. Also, the use of the name “Fulan” or variations on it are everywhere. See below for the full list.

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