johndoe

John Doe is a placeholder name traditionally used in English-speaking countries to refer to an unidentified or anonymous male person, particularly in legal proceedings and hypothetical scenarios. The feminine form Jane Doe is likewise used, and in some contexts John Roe is used as a male placeholder. The practice arose in historical legal actions to represent unknown parties; over time it entered general usage as a generic stand-in for any unnamed individual in examples, demonstrations, or privacy-conscious descriptions.

In law and civil procedure, John Doe opponents or defendants appear as fictitious parties in petitions, complaints, or test cases when the true identity is unknown or protected. In broader culture and media, John Doe is employed as a generic character or unnamed subject in stories, news reports, or discussions about privacy and accountability. The term is usually understood as non-specific rather than a reference to a real individual.

In computing and data contexts, johndoe or JohnDoe is commonly used as a dummy username or sample data when creating accounts, testing forms, or illustrating software behavior. Many software examples and datasets adopt the name because it is recognizable and neutral. The usage extends to privacy-respecting writing, with Jane Doe used for female subjects in similar contexts.