View source for Placeholder name

{{Short description|Name substituted for an unknown name}}
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[[File:Contact-new.svg|thumb|Placeholder name on an icon for a contact card]]
'''Placeholder names''' are names used as [[placeholder word]]s, i.e., referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; are [[tip of the tongue|temporarily forgotten]], or are unimportant; or in order to avoid [[stigmatization]], or because they are unknowable or unpredictable given the context of their discussion; or to deliberately expunge direct use of the name.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Körtvélyessy |first1=Lívia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RdX7DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22placeholder+names%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA364 |title=Complex Words: Advances in Morphology |last2=Štekauer |first2=Pavol |date=2020-10-08 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49029-0 |pages=362–379 |language=en |via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=":04">{{Cite web |last=Conradt |first=Stacy |date=2008-05-29 |title=The Quick 10: 10 Placeholder Names You Probably Didn't Know |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/18740/quick-10-10-placeholder-names-you-probably-didnt-know |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=Mental Floss |language=en-us}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Nichol |first=Mark |date=2012-03-16 |title=Placeholder Names |url=https://www.dailywritingtips.com/placeholder-names/ |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=Daily Writing Tips |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Simran |first=Sumaiya |date=2024-08-19 |title=What Are Standard Placeholder Names? |url=https://blog.lipsumhub.com/what-are-standard-placeholder-names/ |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=Lipsum Hub |language=en-US}}</ref> Placeholder names for people are often [[list of terms referring to an average person|terms referring to an average person]] or a predicted [[persona (user experience)|persona of a typical user]] or for an individual whose name is unknown.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 26392849 | doi=10.5210/ojphi.v7i2.6010 | volume=7 | title=Building an Ontology for Identity Resolution in Healthcare and Public Health | pmc=4576444 | year=2015 | journal=Online J Public Health Inform | page=e219  | last1 = Duncan | first1 = J | last2 = Eilbeck | first2 = K | last3 = Narus | first3 = SP | last4 = Clyde | first4 = S | last5 = Thornton | first5 = S | last6 = Staes | first6 = C | issue=2 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Faustov |first=Andrey A. |date=October 2014 |title=Self-identification of the lyrical subject in Russian poetry (a draft typology) |url=https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/70328119/4112-Articolo-14929-1-10-20140705-libre.pdf?1632757465=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DSelf_identification_of_the_lyrical_subje.pdf&Expires=1754778079&Signature=UVAob06WtRRCL2jbMj6hiXm1iNZ6ZkXwJUNOVyBUDhcZ4NiCyIr4EO0ZCr2-eihxtO4UL5XKc1bfuvo8FEPuLtOXOUgH~yWV5hcEccNvbizEPE~ZrqJ45xsNmNKSXEMbXAk-VZbO2bi~s9gY-C0UhNqHMSiAa8c5XWGit7I9zOLjde-8YWkPqAvzxBxBCwj66j3ij1puymzsUDwxlRW9jB0k8mRMZHhcc5yMnae5CYvB1pwsnSUlxXOdNu-vDRg7nC6DsQiIzlzVhYM9s7YG3f4fkuqqoSv5SiYNf38FRMWwzVMX-JqX5QKFmnIDkPeKypVRlVsGq6GbwDnnHMebpA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA |journal=Enthymema |page=42 |issn=2037-2426 |eissn=2037-2426}}</ref> Placeholder names serve as a "common language" that provide flexibility and clarity when talking or writing about concepts.<ref name=":2" /> Some [[morphologist]]s "will distinguish between placeholders such as ''thingummy'' and placeholder names like ''John Doe''".<ref>Petra M. Vogel, "[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/complex-words/dingsbums-and-thingy/C1C284249599EFEE7C88C2BFE1B468C5 ''Dingsbums'' and ''Thingy'': Placeholders for Names in German and Other Languages]", in ''Complex Words: Advances in Morphology'', Lívia Körtvélyessy and Pavol Štekauer, eds. (Cambridge University Press; 2020), p. 364.</ref> In computer programming and printing, placeholder names allow a creator to test or visual the end product.<ref name=":2" />

==Issues==
Use of "placeholder" names has caused problems in circumstances where the placeholder is not thereafter substituted for a real name when it becomes available. For example, in 2009, the [[United States Army]] was forced to issue an apology when letters addressed to "John Doe" were sent to thousands of families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/oakland-tribune-john-doe-letter-stirs/178478117/|title='John Doe' letter stirs apology from Army|first1=Pauline|last1=Jelinek|date=January 8, 2009|pages=8|work=Oakland Tribune|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> A 2015 report noted that hospitals using a standard "Babyboy" or "Babygirl" placeholder for the first names of unidentified newborns has led to mix-ups in identification and medication of the infants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-of-atlantic-city-temporary-baby-na/178477831/|title=Temporary baby names are blamed for many hospital mixups|first1=Eunjung|last1=Cha|date=July 20, 2015|pages=C2|work=Press of Atlantic City|via=newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Examples ==
=== Companies and organizations ===
"Ace" and "Acme" were popular in company names as positioning words in alphabetical directories.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 March 2013 |title=The Origin of the Looney Tune's "ACME" Corporation Name |url=http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/03/the-origin-of-the-looney-tunes-acme-name/}}</ref> It has been claimed to be an acronym, either for "A Company Making Everything", "American Companies Make Everything", or "American Company that Manufactures Everything".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://acme.com/what_is_acme/|title=What Does ACME Mean?|website=acme.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/32268/where-did-looney-tunes-%E2%80%9Cacme-corporation%E2%80%9D-come|title=Where Did the Looney Tunes "Acme Corporation" Come From?|date=January 10, 2013|website=Mental Floss}}</ref> ("Acme" is a regular English word from the [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|ἀκμή}}, {{lang|grc-Latn|akme}} meaning summit, highest point, extremity or peak, and thus sometimes used for "best".)<ref name=":02">{{cite web |title=Acme |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acme |access-date=28 July 2017 |website=Merriam-Webster, Inc.}}</ref> A well-known example of "Acme" as a placeholder name is the [[Acme Corporation]], whose products are often seen in the [[Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner]] cartoons.<ref>{{cite web |author=E.O. Costello |title=ACME |url=http://www.i-foo.com/~eocostello/wbcc/eowbcc-a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110712234115/http://www.i-foo.com/~eocostello/wbcc/eowbcc-a.html |archive-date=2011-07-12 |work=The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion}}</ref>

"{{Visible anchor|Joe's Diner}}" is a placeholder name for a [[Fiction|fictional]] or [[hypothetical]] [[everyman]]'s [[restaurant]]. Although there are franchises that use the name, its [[Rhetoric|rhetorical]] use is often to describe a small, local business contrasted against large businesses or [[Chain store|franchises]]. The phrase "'''Eat at Joe's'''" is a complementary fictional or hypothetical typical advertisement for such an establishment, and has itself become a [[snowclone]] in the form of ''X at Joe's'', ''Eat at Y's'', or simply ''X at Y's''. It has also been noted that "[a] 'Joe's Diner' is an example of a [[Genericized trademark|weak name]] that would likely be unsuccessful suing another Joe's Diner in another state" for [[trademark infringement]].<ref>Barry M. Levenson, ''Habeas Codfish: Reflections on Food and the Law'' (2001), p. 116.</ref> The corresponding expression, "Eat at Joe's", was a frequently used gag in the [[Warner Bros.]] and [[MGM cartoons]] during the 1940s, typically used when an image of a neon sign or other complicated tubing would appear.<ref>''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), t. 1:17:02</ref> Real world examples include [[Sloppy Joe's]], an actual restaurant in Key West, Florida; [[Joe's Crab Shack]], an American seafood restaurant chain that frequently uses the phrase "Eat at Joe's" for their restaurants; and [[Eskimo Joe's]], an actual restaurant in Stillwater, Oklahoma that has also used the phrase.

=== Computing ===
{{main|Metasyntactic variable}}
Placeholder names are commonly used in [[computing]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gorskis |first1=Henrihs |last2=Aleksejeva |first2=Ludmila |last3=Poļaka |first3=Inese |date=December 2017 |title=Database Concepts in a Domain Ontology |url=https://archive-journals.rtu.lv/index.php/itms/article/view/itms-2017-0012/151 |journal=Information Technology and Management Science |volume=20 |page=69 |doi=10.1515/itms-2017-0012 |issn=2255-9086 |eissn=2255-9094|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>Sewell, Jeanne P. MSN, RN. "Creating a Bibliography With Microsoft Word 2007 and 2008". ''CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing,'' 28 (3):p 134-137, May 2010. {{doi|10.1097/NCN.0b013e3181d7bb23}}</ref><ref>Yuetian Mao, Junjie He, and Chunyang Chen. "From Prompts to Templates: A Systematic Prompt Template Analysis for Real-world LLMapps." In ''Proceedings of the 33rd ACM International Conference on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE Companion '25)''. New York: [[Association for Computing Machinery]], 2025. pp. 75–86. {{doi|10.1145/3696630.3728533}}</ref> ''Foo'', ''bar'', ''baz'', and ''qux'' (and combinations thereof) are commonly used as placeholders for [[Computer file|file]], [[Subroutine|function]] and [[variable (programming)|variable]] names. Foo and bar are derived from [[foobar]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Raymond |first1=Eric |title=Foo |url=http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/F/foo.html |website=The Jargon File (version 4.4.7) |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref>

Certain [[domain name]]s in the format ''[[example.com|example]][[top-level domain|.tld]]'' (such as ''example.com'', ''example.net'', and ''example.org'') are officially reserved as placeholders for the purpose of presentation.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://example.com | title=Example.com}}</ref> The term "test user" is also used as a placeholder name during software tests.<ref name=":2" />

=== Geographical locations ===

[[Anytown, USA (disambiguation)|Anytown, USA]], in particular, is one of the many placeholder names used in the American vernacular to describe a stereotypical small American town.<ref>{{cite book |author=Eric Partridge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4YfsEgHLjboC&pg=PA35&dq=slang+%22Anytown+USA+%22&hl=en |title=The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: A-I |author2=Tom Dalzell |author3=Terry Victor |year=2006 |isbn=9780415259378 |page=35}}</ref>

''Something''[[-stan]] and its demonym ''something''-stani, where ''something'' is often derogatory,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meier |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQAQEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA281 |title=Terror's Triumph: The British Empire and the Origins of Modern Terrorism |date=2024-12-02 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=979-8-8818-0200-4 |language=en}}</ref> is commonly used as a placeholder for a [[Middle Eastern]] or [[South Asian]] country/people or for a politically disliked portion of one's own country/people. As an example, ''[[Londonistan]]'' is a placeholder name that evokes the perception of [[London]]'s high Muslim population.<ref name="After">{{citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/magazine/25london.html |title=After Londonistan |work=The New York Times |date=25 June 2006 |accessdate=12 December 2009 |first=Christopher |last=Caldwell}}</ref>

[[Podunk]] is used in [[American English]] for a hypothetical small town regarded as typically dull or insignificant, a place in the U.S. that is unlikely to have been heard of. Another example is ''East Cupcake'' to refer to a generic small town in the [[Midwestern United States]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/01/opinion/collins-its-only-a-million.html| title=It's Only a Million| author=Gail Collins| date=April 30, 2014| work=New York Times| quote=It will never occur to them that if voters had not given them that stint of public service, they would be processing divorce cases back home in East Cupcake.}}</ref>

In [[New Zealand English]], ''[[Woop Woop|Woop Woops]]'' (or, alternatively, ''Wop-wops'')<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/woop_woop |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928060516/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/woop_woop |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 28, 2016 |title=Woop Woop |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries }}</ref> is a (generally humorous) name for an out-of-the-way location, usually rural and sparsely populated. The similar [[Australian English]] ''Woop Woop'', (or, less frequently, ''Woop Woops'')<ref name=":0" /> can refer to any remote location, or outback town or district. Another New Zealand English term with a similar use is [[Waikikamukau]] ("Why kick a moo-cow"), a generic name for a small rural town.<ref> McCloy, Nicola (2006). Whykickamoocow: Curious New Zealand Place Names. New Zealand: Random House. {{ISBN|1-86941-807-7}}.</ref>

=== Legal ===
[[Blackacre]], Whiteacre, Greenacre, Brownacre, and variations are the placeholder names used for fictitious [[Estate (law)|estates in land]]. The names are used by professors of [[law]] in [[common law]] jurisdictions, particularly in the area of [[real property]] and occasionally in [[contracts]], to discuss the rights of various parties to a piece of land.  Where more than one estate is needed to demonstrate a point{{spaced ndash}}perhaps relating to a dispute over boundaries, [[Easement|easements]] or [[riparian rights]]{{spaced ndash}}a second estate will usually be called Whiteacre,<ref>''Black’s Law Dictionary'', “blackacre”{{page needed|date=January 2014}}</ref> a third, Greenacre, and a fourth, Brownacre.

''{{vanchor|Fnu Lnu}}'' is used by authorities to identify unknown suspects, the name being an [[acronym and initialism|acronym]] for ''First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown''. If a person's first name is known but not the last, or vice versa, they may be called ''[real name] Lnu'' or ''Fnu [real name]'', and an unidentified person may be ''Fnu Lnu''. For example, a former interpreter for the [[United States]] [[Armed forces|military]] was charged as "FNU LNU",<ref>{{Cite news|first=Shaun |last=Waterman |title=Military interpreter 'used false identity' |url=https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2005/10/24/Military-interpreter-used-false-identity/96581130164601/ |work=UPI Security & Terrorism |date= 2005-10-24 |access-date=2022-03-09}}</ref> and a [[Muteness|mute]] man whose identity could not be determined was arrested and charged with burglary in [[Harris County, Texas]] under the name "FNU-LNU" (charges were later dropped because authorities could not communicate with the man).<ref>{{Cite news|first=John |last=Makeig  |title=Mute suspect nabbed, but identity still at large |work=Houston Chronicle |page=29 |date= 1991-12-28}}</ref> ''Fnu-Lnu'' conjunctions may also be used if the person has only a single name, as in [[Indonesian name]]s. The name has been considered a source of humor when ''Fnu Lnu'' has been mistaken for the actual name of a person.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nash |first=Bruce M. |display-authors=etal |title=The New Lawyer's Wit and Wisdom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mQAKrt8kL7cC&q=%22fnu+lnu%22&pg=PA199 |access-date=2008-01-19 |year=2001 |publisher=Running Press |isbn=0762410639 |page=199}}</ref>

''X ben X'' ({{Literally|X, son of X}}, {{Langx|ar|إكس بن إكس}} or {{Lang|ar|سين بن سين}}) is used in [[Morocco]] by health and [[Judiciary of Morocco|judicial authorities]] in cases where an individual's identity cannot be determined. These cases include amnesiacs, suspects, hospital patients, and homeless people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-09-23 |title=Médecine légale: X Ben X, l'énigme du cadavre anonyme |url=https://www.leconomiste.com/article/1002747-medecine-legale-x-ben-x-l-enigme-du-cadavre-anonyme |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=L'Economiste |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-04-08 |title=حملة أمنية تحصي المتشردين و المتسولين لتحديد هوياتهم ! |trans-title=A security campaign counts the homeless and beggars to determine their identities! |url=https://rue20.com/287593.html |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=Rue20 |language=ar}}</ref> In 2009, 80,000 abandoned orphans had the placeholder name of ''X ben X'' and 100 unidentified bodies are buried each year in Morocco under this status.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elhor |first=Aziz |date=2012-02-17 |title=حقائق صادمة عن أطفال يحملون اسم «X بن X» |trans-title=Facts about children named "X Ben X" |url=https://www.maghress.com/almassae/150896 |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=al-Massae}}</ref>

=== Publishing and writing ===
Placeholder names are used in writing, publishing, and [[typesetting]] where there are gaps in the text, document, or data set for an unknown name.<ref name=":2" /> The correct name is usually added once the information is known.<ref name=":2" /> 

===Science===
In chemistry, tentative or hypothetical elements are  assigned provisional names until their existence is confirmed by [[IUPAC]]. Historically, this placeholder name would follow [[Mendeleev's predicted elements#Prefixes|Mendeleev's nomenclature]]; since the [[Transfermium wars]], however, the consensus has been to assign a [[systematic element name]] based on the element's atomic number.<ref>{{cite web |title=Recommendations for the Naming of Elements of Atomic Numbers Greater than 100 |url=https://iupac.qmul.ac.uk/AtWt/element.html |publisher=IUPAC |access-date=1 February 2024}}</ref>

Element names from the [[periodic table]] are used in some hospitals as a placeholder for patient names, ex. Francium Male.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gnyha.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/MCI_NamingConventions.pdf|title=GNYHA Naming Conventions}}</ref> Hospitals also use placeholder names for newborn babies.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-06 |title=Hospitals' practices on baby names may change |url=https://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jul/15/hospitals-practices-on-baby-names-may-change/ |access-date=2025-08-09 |website=The Columbian |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Sports===
Placeholder identities are often used across multiple sports for a variety of reasons, usually involving an ongoing branding process. Examples include the [[National Hockey League]]'s [[Utah Hockey Club]], who played their [[2024–25 Utah Hockey Club season|inaugural season]] under the moniker while developing their permanent identity (ultimately the [[Utah Mammoth|Mammoth]]);<ref>{{cite press release|title=Utah Hockey Club officially joins NHL, unveils uniforms, logos|url=https://www.nhl.com/news/utah-hockey-club-joins-nhl-unveils-uniforms-logos|publisher=NHL Enterprises, L.P.|website=NHL.com|date=June 13, 2024|access-date=June 14, 2024}}</ref> the [[National Football League]]'s [[Washington Football Team]], who played two seasons with the name after switching away from [[Washington Redskins|Redskins]] due to the longstanding [[Washington Redskins name controversy|name controversy]], and before unveiling the [[Washington Commanders|Commanders]] brand;<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kim|first1=Allen|last2=Sterling|first2=Wayne|date=July 23, 2020|title=Washington's football team to call itself Washington Football Team until it settles on a new name|website= CNN.com |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/us/washington-football-team-spt-trnd/index.html|access-date=July 26, 2020}}</ref> and the minor-league [[Pacific Coast League]]'s [[Oklahoma City Baseball Club]], who played one season with the identity after dropping the major-league-affiliate [[Oklahoma City Dodgers|Dodgers]] name in favor of developing a more unique brand (ultimately the [[Oklahoma City Comets|Comets]]).<ref name=OKCBaseballClub2024>{{cite news|title=Oklahoma City's Triple-A Baseball Team Announces Brand Identity Transition Toward Unique and Local Name|url=https://www.milb.com/oklahoma-city/news/okc-brand-identity-transition|publisher=Minor League Baseball|website=Oklahoma City Baseball Club|date=December 14, 2023|access-date=December 15, 2023}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of names used as placeholders in English]]
* {{sectionlink|List of terms referring to an average person#United Kingdom}} and {{sectionlink|List of terms referring to an average person#United States|nopage=y}}
* {{sectionlink|List_of_placeholder_names#English}}
* [[Placeholder word]]
* [[Expletive attributive]]
* [[Lorem ipsum]], simulated text used to fill in for written content in a [[page layout]] design
* [[Nonce word]]
* [[Fictional company]]
* [[Fictional brand]]
* [[Heisler Beer]]
* [[Morley (cigarette)]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{refbegin}}
* Espy, W., ''An Almanac of Words at Play'' (Clarkson Potter, 1979) {{ISBN|0-517-52090-7}}
* Flexner, S. B. and Wentworth, H., ''A Dictionary of American Slang''; (Macmillan, 1960) {{ASIN|B000LV7HQS}} {{OCLC|875372335}}
* Watson, Ian, "Meet John Doe: stand-ins", section 3.7 in [https://www.ianwatson.org/cognitive_design.pdf IanWatson.org]{{Dead link|date=September 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Cognitive Design'', (Ph.D. dissertation, [[Rutgers University]], 2005).
{{refend}}{{Personal names}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Placeholder Name}}
[[Category:Placeholder names| ]]