Placeholder names are names used asplaceholder words, i.e., referring to things, places, or people, the names of which or of whom do not actually exist; aretemporarily forgotten, or are unimportant; or in order to avoidstigmatization, or because they are unknowable or unpredictable given the context of their discussion; or to deliberately expunge direct use of the name.[1][2][3][4] Placeholder names for people are oftenterms referring to an average person or a predictedpersona of a typical user or for an individual whose name is unknown.[3][5][6] Placeholder names serve as a "common language" that provide flexibility and clarity when talking or writing about concepts.[4] Somemorphologists "will distinguish between placeholders such asthingummy and placeholder names likeJohn Doe".[7] In computer programming and printing, placeholder names allow a creator to test or visual the end product.[4]
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, theUnited 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.[8] 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.[9]
"Ace" and "Acme" were popular in company names as positioning words in alphabetical directories.[10] It has been claimed to be an acronym, either for "A Company Making Everything", "American Companies Make Everything", or "American Company that Manufactures Everything".[11][12] ("Acme" is a regular English word from theAncient Greekἀκμή,akme meaning summit, highest point, extremity or peak, and thus sometimes used for "best".)[13] A well-known example of "Acme" as a placeholder name is theAcme Corporation, whose products are often seen in theWile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons.[14]
"Joe's Diner" is a placeholder name for afictional orhypotheticaleveryman'srestaurant. Although there are franchises that use the name, itsrhetorical use is often to describe a small, local business contrasted against large businesses orfranchises. The phrase "Eat at Joe's" is a complementary fictional or hypothetical typical advertisement for such an establishment, and has itself become asnowclone in the form ofX at Joe's,Eat at Y's, or simplyX at Y's. It has also been noted that "[a] 'Joe's Diner' is an example of aweak name that would likely be unsuccessful suing another Joe's Diner in another state" fortrademark infringement.[15] The corresponding expression, "Eat at Joe's", was a frequently used gag in theWarner Bros. andMGM cartoons during the 1940s, typically used when an image of a neon sign or other complicated tubing would appear.[16] Real world examples includeSloppy 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; andEskimo Joe's, an actual restaurant in Stillwater, Oklahoma that has also used the phrase.
Placeholder names are commonly used incomputing.[17][18][19]Foo,bar,baz, andqux (and combinations thereof) are commonly used as placeholders forfile,function andvariable names. Foo and bar are derived fromfoobar.[20]
Certaindomain names in the formatexample.tld (such asexample.com,example.net, andexample.org) are officially reserved as placeholders for the purpose of presentation.[21] The term "test user" is also used as a placeholder name during software tests.[4]
Anytown, USA, in particular, is one of the many placeholder names used in the American vernacular to describe a stereotypical small American town.[22]
Something-stan and its demonymsomething-stani, wheresomething is often derogatory,[23] is commonly used as a placeholder for aMiddle Eastern orSouth 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 ofLondon's high Muslim population.[24]
Podunk is used inAmerican 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 isEast Cupcake to refer to a generic small town in theMidwestern United States.[25]
InNew Zealand English,Woop Woops (or, alternatively,Wop-wops)[26] is a (generally humorous) name for an out-of-the-way location, usually rural and sparsely populated. The similarAustralian EnglishWoop Woop, (or, less frequently,Woop Woops)[26] can refer to any remote location, or outback town or district. Another New Zealand English term with a similar use isWaikikamukau ("Why kick a moo-cow"), a generic name for a small rural town.[27]
Blackacre, Whiteacre, Greenacre, Brownacre, and variations are the placeholder names used for fictitiousestates in land. The names are used by professors oflaw incommon law jurisdictions, particularly in the area ofreal property and occasionally incontracts, to discuss the rights of various parties to a piece of land. Where more than one estate is needed to demonstrate a point – perhaps relating to a dispute over boundaries,easements orriparian rights – a second estate will usually be called Whiteacre,[28] a third, Greenacre, and a fourth, Brownacre.
Fnu Lnu is used by authorities to identify unknown suspects, the name being anacronym forFirst 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 orFnu [real name], and an unidentified person may beFnu Lnu. For example, a former interpreter for theUnited Statesmilitary was charged as "FNU LNU",[29] and amute man whose identity could not be determined was arrested and charged with burglary inHarris County, Texas under the name "FNU-LNU" (charges were later dropped because authorities could not communicate with the man).[30]Fnu-Lnu conjunctions may also be used if the person has only a single name, as inIndonesian names. The name has been considered a source of humor whenFnu Lnu has been mistaken for the actual name of a person.[31]
X ben X (lit. 'X, son of X',Arabic:إكس بن إكس orسين بن سين) is used inMorocco by health andjudicial authorities in cases where an individual's identity cannot be determined. These cases include amnesiacs, suspects, hospital patients, and homeless people.[32][33] In 2009, 80,000 abandoned orphans had the placeholder name ofX ben X and 100 unidentified bodies are buried each year in Morocco under this status.[34]
Placeholder names are used in writing, publishing, andtypesetting where there are gaps in the text, document, or data set for an unknown name.[4] The correct name is usually added once the information is known.[4]
In chemistry, tentative or hypothetical elements are assigned provisional names until their existence is confirmed byIUPAC. Historically, this placeholder name would followMendeleev's nomenclature; since theTransfermium wars, however, the consensus has been to assign asystematic element name based on the element's atomic number.[35]
Element names from theperiodic table are used in some hospitals as a placeholder for patient names, ex. Francium Male.[36] Hospitals also use placeholder names for newborn babies.[37]
Placeholder identities are often used across multiple sports for a variety of reasons, usually involving an ongoing branding process. Examples include theNational Hockey League'sUtah Hockey Club, who played theirinaugural season under the moniker while developing their permanent identity (ultimately theMammoth);[38] theNational Football League'sWashington Football Team, who played two seasons with the name after switching away fromRedskins due to the longstandingname controversy, and before unveiling theCommanders brand;[39] and the minor-leaguePacific Coast League'sOklahoma City Baseball Club, who played one season with the identity after dropping the major-league-affiliateDodgers name in favor of developing a more unique brand (ultimately theComets).[40]
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.