"John/Jane Doe"--Why "Doe"?

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Sun Aug 22 15:10:59 UTC 2004


>Yesterday I was asked why "Doe" is used in "John Doe" or "Jane Doe."
>Would someone know? (I don't have my reference materials handy, so
>maybe I'm missing something obvious.)

For starters, I suggest Quinion's page:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-joh2.htm

-- Doug Wilson



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