Joe Bloggs

The names "Joe Bloggs" and "Fred Bloggs" are commonly used as placeholder names in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, for teaching, programming, and other thinking and writing. The surname Bloggs on its own is sometimes used in the same way. Fred alone can be a programming placeholder (due to its letters being close together on the standard QWERTY keyboard).

Other placeholders (e.g. in advertisements for store cards/credit cards) sometimes used are Mr/Mrs A Smith or A. N. Other. In the United Kingdom and United States, John has historically been one of the most common male first names,^[1] and Smith is the most common surname in each,^[2] so "John Smith" is a recurrent pseudonym and placeholder name in those countries (especially in legal contexts).

In Germany, Max Mustermann (male), Erika Mustermann (female), and Otto Normalverbraucher are used. In the United States, John Doe, John Q. Public, Joe Blow, Joe Sixpack and Joe Schmoe are used. Other international variations can be found here.

In The Princeton Review standardized test preparation courses, "Joe Bloggs" represents the average test-taker, and students are trained to identify the "Joe Bloggs answer", or the choice which seems right but may be misleading on harder questions.^[3]

The name Bloggs is believed to have been derived from the East Anglian region of Britain, Norfolk or Suffolk, deriving from bloc, a bloke.^[4]

See also

• Alice and Bob
• Average Joe
• Ola Nordmann
• Tommy Atkins
• John Doe
• Israel Israeli
• Svensson
• Walter Plinge

References