Ploni

This is a list of placeholder names (words that can refer to things, persons, places, numbers and other concepts whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed) in various languages.

Arabic

Arabic uses , ( / ) and when a last name is needed it becomes , ( / ). When a second person is needed, , ( / ) is used. The use of has been borrowed into Spanish, Portuguese, Persian, Turkish and Malay, as shown below.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

''Inna'' ܐܸܢܵܐ or ''hinna'' ܗܸܢܵܐ are used for “thingy”, “thingamabob”, etc. “Ayka dre-li inna?” roughly translates to “Where did I put the thingamabob?”

A verb of the root '-N-L (ܐܢܠ) likely derived from the noun is used to express actions similarly; for verbs that don’t immediately come to mind. Though not directly translatable into English, eg. “Si m’annil-leh” roughly translates to “go do that thing”.

Similarly to other Semitic languages, plān ܦܠܵܢ (masculine) and plānīthā ܦܠܵܢܝܼܬ݂ܵܐ (feminine) are used for “so-and-so”.

Bengali

Bengali uses the universal placeholder ইয়ে ''iay''. Its generally placed for a noun which cannot be recalled by the speaker at the time of his/her speech. ইয়ে ''iay'' can be used for nouns, adjectives, and verbs (in conjunction with light verbs). অমুক ''omuk'' can also be a placeholder for people or objects. ফলনা/ফলানা ''folona/folana'' and its female equivalent ফলনি ''foloni'' is a placeholder specific to people. The phrase এ যে ''e je'' roughly translates to "you know" although the literal meaning is "this that". To refer to an extended family or generation the phrase চৌদ্দ গোষ্ঠী ''chouddo goshthi'' is used. It can also mean "everyone one knows", when used in a context of telling your "chouddo gosthi" something and not keeping a secret.

Bulgarian

In Bulgarian, (, such) or (, lit. the such) can be used in place of a noun, and () as a verb.

Placeholder names for people include: (), () and (); used in this order. is the most common Bulgarian name, while the other two are quite old-fashioned. () is most commonly an ordinary person with no interesting qualities.

A colloquial placeholder name for towns is the railway junction of Kaspichan, which often bears the connotation of a far-off forgotten place. Villages could be referred to as (), literally "Upper Downhill".

Cantonese

In Hong Kong, Chan Tai Man () is commonly used as a placeholder. Chan () was chosen because it is a common surname in the Hong Kong population. Tai Man () is chosen because it has fewer strokes which makes it easy to write. Besides, which means a random passer-by or which means anonymous could also be used.

While English is also an official language in Hong Kong, Chris Wong is used as a common placeholder in Hong Kong English, particularly in school tests and examinations, e.g. HKDSE.

In legal proceedings, Mr/Miss/Mrs X / Y / Z could be used when the court decides to protect the victim's real identity, particularly in sexual criminal case.

Chinese

In Chinese, question words are used as placeholders. An unspecified object is or () and an unspecified location is ().

The particle () often forms part of a placeholder. It occurs as a prefix of generic nouns (e.g. "some person"), perhaps with an intervening measure word (e.g. "a certain show"), or substituting people's actual names (e.g. "Li Something").

Common placeholder names are:
* Zhang San ()
* Li Si ()
* Wang Wu ()
When more than three placeholders are needed, these are also occasionally used:
* Lu Er ()
* Zhao Liu ()
* Sun Qi ()
* Wang Ermazi ()
Zhang, Li, Wang, Zhao and Sun are among the most common Chinese surnames.

In all kinds of English exams in high school, Li Hua () is often used as the character example in writing tests.

The expression ("monkey year horse month") denotes an unknown but remote time in the future. For example, is often translated as "to wait forever".

Czech

Things

There are several placeholder words for things such as , , (gadget), , , , etc.

Persons

or for men and or for women are Czech versions of John Doe/Jane Doe.

Places

A placeholder name for a distant place is , for a remote village or ("Upper Lower"), for a crazy town etc. Another word for remote place is .

The phrase (literally, "where the foxes say goodnight") refers to a remote and isolated place, like "the middle of nowhere".

Danish

Things

In Danish a common placeholder word is (derived from German ), used for small unspecified objects (gadgets). Long, thin and pointy objects may be called or , derived from the verb in the meaning 'thrust'. Other placeholders for objects are , , , , , and ; (lit. 'stuff') and (lit. 'gear').

Persons

In common parlance and as a placeholder a variety can be used. (Name Nameson) is an example.

In civil law , , etc. are used. In criminal law is used for the accused (), is a non-law enforcement witness (), is a police officer () and or is the victim (). When more than one a number is added, e.g. , and , .

Places

Faraway countries are often called , lit. ''Farawayistan''. was first used in 1959 in the weekly periodical as Sonja Rindom's translation of Remotistan.
Since 2001 it has been included in as an official Danish word.

Backwards places in the countryside are called , lit. ''The fields of Lars Diarrhea''.
Similarly , lit. ''Where the crows turn around'' may also be used for denoting both a far away and backwards place at the same time.

The expression is a placeholder for a place far far away e.g. ''he kicked the ball'' .

Dutch

Things

In Dutch the primary placeholder is (derived from , "thing"), used for both objects and persons, and sometimes turned into a verb (). The diminutive of , (lit. "little thing" or "thingy") serves as a placeholder for objects when used with an article, and for persons without.

In Belgian Dutch you can call a small village ('the hole of pluto').

Persons

The equivalent of ''John Doe'' for an unspecified (but not an unidentified) person is ("Jansen" being one of the most common Dutch surnames), or in vulgar speech ("John Dick"); ("John with the short surname") is used in the place of to avoid vulgarity. ("John Average") is the average consumer and ("John Public") and ("John with the cap") the man in the street while (John Soldier) is the average soldier.

In Belgium, the Dutch name for an unspecified person is sometimes said to be , though most people just use instead. is a common pet form of . Another pet form is . The average couple may be (Molly and Jenny). In 2010 the politician Geert Wilders introduced as to describe the average Dutch couple. For some time, lower class young people were called .

(literally 'Every-body' in old Dutch) is a character from a medieval play (Everyman and Death). It is sometimes used to say ''any mortal''.

Places

Obscure, faraway places are (inspired by Dutch Donald Duck comics) and ('Faraway-i-stan'). , a real village, is also used in this sense. The fictitious village (also spelled as ) is small, not very important and in Flanders. and are equivalents in the Netherlands.

Numbers

Similar to German, the word for an unknown amount is , used like "umpteen". It stems from the suffix used for double-digit numbers ( twenty, forty), and is usually used in an aggravated context. ("I've tried that umpteen times already!").

Egyptian

In Ancient Egypt, the names Hudjefa and Sedjes, literally meaning "erased" and "missing", were used by later Egyptian scribes in kings lists to refer to much older previous pharaohs whose names had by that time been lost.

English

See Placeholder name.

Finnish

Things

one of the most common Finnish placeholder words for technical objects and machinery, it's usually a placeholder for any device which lacks a proper word and often has unknown operating logic, but is useful and has no direct negative association. on the other hand is negative and refers to devices that are apparently useless and make no sense. is a very common ''thing'' word for devices and is by default emotionally neutral, but it is also used as slang for the male genital. can be used instead of .

An idiosyncratically Finnish placeholder word is or , literally "whatever (it) may be". It uses the Finnish verb form or , meaning "(it) probably is" – i.e., "to be" in the potential mood. This inflected word form is quite rare in everyday speech, which has resulted in its grammatical function being (mis)interpreted by native speakers as a grammatical particle instead of a verb. This, in turn, has given rise to constructions such as . Analogously persons are "whoever he may be", locations "in wherever", etc.

has the literal meanings "story", "criminal/court case", or "issue", but may refer to virtually anything inanimate.

Persons

Placeholders for people include the ubiquitous (male) and (female), and the relatively less common (literally Anna the Model, but can also be understood as "Give me an example", female) or ("Tauno the Ordinary", male). In official contexts, the initials (from the Latin , "name unknown") are used.

means literally "one of us, one of our side", but sounds similar to a genuine Finnish surname, many of which end in . Sometimes, ( means "one of you people, one of your side") can be used, where a contrast to is needed.

The names and are sometimes also used, because they are said to combine the most common first names and surnames; however, they are also real names for this reason.

The common nouns "character" or "figure" via Swedish, "fellow" and "someone" may be used as placeholders for persons. is often used in an ironic sense about a known person whose name is unknown, in the same sense as "fellow" is used in English. is usually combined with to form for an unknown character with unknown intentions.

Pihtiputaan mummo ("the grandma from Pihtipudas") is the proverbial least knowledgeable and therefore least capable person to adapt to a new technology, such as the euro or digital TV.

Places

The most common placeholder name for a remote location or a "backwater town" is . Actual locations in Finland that have acquired a similar status include and, to some extent, , though the latter is mostly associated with the proverbial "grandmother from Pihtipudas" explained above. They are usually spelled with a small initial letter when they are used as placeholder names.

Stereotypical foreign, distant places are and . Other places, whose actual coordinates are unknown and obscure, but which clearly are far away, are , (chute of Hell), and ("Horse's Spruce" cf. ''in the sticks'').

Numbers

Placeholders for large numbers include and . The latter is a portmanteau