Re: CHAT: "John Doe" equivalents sought

On 21 May, John Cowan wrote:

>I've been asked on another mailing list to collect "dummy names" from
>other cultures. In Anglo-America, the names "John Doe" and "Richard Roe"
>(and female equivalents with "Jane") are used in the legal system and
>elsewhere for people whose names are not known.  I have heard that
>the name "Alain LaFlamme" is used similarly either in France or in
>French Canada (my informant wasn't certain).  Are there other such names
>elsewhere?  Details eagerly solicited.
Well, in formal Hebrew, there is the phrase
"ploni almoni". I'm not sure of the derivation.
("almoi" probably comes from the root
aleph-lamed-mem in it's sense of disappearance.
However, if it was originally Hebrew or borrowed,
I can't say. ) Anyhow, my daughter informs me that
nobody uses this in common speech. The person
would more likely to be described with a "he, who..."
or "it, which..." construction.

In rtemmu, one would say:

g`amtr`shkuhlna (= no-name)

g`am = no, none  (g~ = voiced velar nasal)
tr`shkuh = name   (r` = [R] )
lna = one's nature


Dan Sulani
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likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.