John Smith Equivalents
In many countries one First Name and one Second Name seem to dominate in their popularity. In England it is John Smith; in Denmark: Hans Jensen; in Poland: Jan Nowak and in Israel: Moshe Cohen
Does anyone know of those from other countries?
Does anyone know of those from other countries?
posted by Adam Jacot de Boinod at 1:20 PM
35 Comments:
In Argentina (I'm not sure in the rest of Spanish speakers countries) is Juan Pérez.
In Malta: Joe Borg :)
In the USA its John Doe
In the Netherlands: Bohuslav Naaktgeboren-Potjewijd
Or: Jan Jansen
In Swedish the female equivalent would be Anna Svensson. For a mans name, perhaps Kalle Svensson? I think that differs depending on who you ask.
in Brazil:
Male: João da Silva
female: Maria Aparecida
in romania: for male: Ion Popescu
for female: Maria Popescu
In Italy I think is Mario Rossi, but it depends on region; for female... I don't know.
(Sorry for my written English: it's a bit rusty! :))
In Germany it's Erika Mustermann =)
In Finland these names are often used as the names of 'generic citizens'
Matti Meikäläinen (male)
Maija Meikäläinen (female)
The common surnames Virtanen or Mäkinen are sometimes used like 'John Smith'.
In Norway we have the terms "Ola Nordmann" or "Kari Nordmann", they are not really common names, more a way to talk about the entire country in general. For instance say that "Ola and Kari Nordmann are buying more and more expensive cars", we use the term like that. "Nordmann" means "Norwegian" in Norway. I guess the names Kari and Ola used to be more common before.
in Poland there is also "Jan Kowalski"
In Peru these names are often used as the names of 'generic citizens'
Juan Perez (m)
Juana Perez (f)
In Spain, some years ago: Fulanito and Menganito.
Like others users said, "Juan Perez" is our John Smith equivalent in latinoamerica, although i'm not sure this name be the most frequent as is suposed to be. Is almost a myth it's frecquency... till today i haven't met one "juan perez" yet.
i forgot to mention, im from Chile
in the Philippines it's "Juan Dela Cruz"
In France the most common surname is Martin but the surname "Dupont" is more commonly used to designate the average French citizen. So John Smith here is "Mr or Madame Dupont" (no first name associated) although the Martin are by far more numerous than the Dupont in reality... :-)
In a number of Spanish-speaking countries, it's Juan Fulano.
In Croatia
male: Ivan Horvat
female: Ivana or Ana Horvat
In Brazil, surely "João Silva". I guess not "João DA Silva", but just "João Silva".
IN FRANCE / JEAN DUPOND OR JACQUES MARTIN
Yes, it is Mario Rossi for Italy...and the feminine counterpart is, obviously, Maria Rossi!
Yes, it is Mario Rossi for Italy...and the feminine counterpart is, obviously, Maria Rossi!
In Belgium (the Dutch-speaking part), there is no such name. But we do speak about "Jan Modaal" (John Average) when we talk about the "average" man. But that's probably not what you mean.
Japanese:
Male: Yamada Tarō (山田太郎)--equivalent to John Smith.
Female: Yamada Hanako (山田花子)--equivalent to Jane Smith.
In Bulgaria:
male - Ivan Ivanov
female - Maria Ivanova
In germany it´s definitely Lieschen Müller for female.
But male? Maybe "Hinz und Kunz".
The stereotypical first-and-last name combo in Italy must be Mario Rossi. Trivia: one of the most popular last names in Italy is Ferrari (like the car, yes). Now, "Ferrari" or "Fabbri" are both Italian words for "smith". So Italian and American most common last names are the same. Yay.
Adam, my friend, you MUST do something about all the spam you're getting here!
Anywho, yes, it seems most of the non-third-world cultures today are big enough that they a) have noticed there are common recurring names (first and last) and b) have a national petname (if you will). Incidentally, "John Smith" is probably the easiest name to "translate" into most (if not all) of the world's main languages. "John" probably has an equivalent in every language. Especially since more and more languages nowadays have a translation of the Bible or some parts of it, at least. As for "Smith", well most languages seem to have either a translation for Smith (in which case it would be the language in question's word for "blacksmith") or an equivalent surname which is most popular in the given culture's (main) language.
In Hungary :
Kovács János (= John Smith) or Kovács István (Steven Smith), as the first name is in fact the second in Hungarian.
In Brazil, rather than João da Silva and Maria Aparecida, I hear (and use) "Fulano" or "Fulana de Tal." The literal meaning is "someone from wherever." You'll even see it in the national newspaper, although in the case of a death, they'll respectfully report that it is a unknown person.
It's hard to imagine that anyone is still maintaining this blog, given the enormous quantities of spam that have been left uncleaned for almost a year. But in case anyone is still reading this thread and has an interest, an extremely comprehensive list of 'John Smith equivalents' can be found at this link:
Encyclopedia entry .
As I'm sure Mr Jacot de Boinod could have figured out, had he bothered to spend ten minutes with any decent search engine.
In Serbia maybe it would be Ivan Ivanovic or Marko Markovic for men.
Maybe Ivana Ivanovic or Marija Petrovic for women.All the last names are very common for sure.
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