Is there a British equivalent of the American/Canadian Jane Doe?
In this case specifically for an unknown female victim of crime. I know the John Doe name is originally English in origin but it doesn't get used in the UK as a place-holder name very much, that's normally Joe Bloggs, but I've never heard of Jane Bloggs as a female option.
I'd prefer the answer to come from someone of a British cultural background, as I'm looking for a colloquialism that would be immediately understood by a British audience. Basically I'm asking for a Brit-pick.
Anonymous2011-01-06T19:14:55Z
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Well i'm English and generally we just say Joe Bloggs universally although there may be a female version that ive just never come across .
I'm English, and one of my interests is the English language (grammar; spelling; etc.), but I have never come across the female equivalent of "John Doe". The only pseudonyms that I can think of that might come close to what you are looking for are: 1. A.N. Other (this is used in a list of persons who are expected to attend a function, but one or more of the names is not yet known). 2. Joe Soap (and, no, I don't know the origin!) 3. Tommy Atkins (this is used mainly in military circles to denote a soldier, any soldier, a typical soldier. It's supposed to have been used on a sample of a military form to show the ordinary soldiers where to put their name). I know that none of these suits your purpose, and I'm sorry that I can't be of much help, but I don't think newspaper reporters use a female version of John Doe. If a UK newspaper refers to an unknown, female victim of a crime, it usually begins its report by saying that a woman's body was found at such-and-such a place. After that, it says something like, "the victim; the unknown woman; the dead woman".