John Q. Public

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"Joe Public" redirects here. For , see .

The name John Q. Public is used on a sample Social Security card

John Q. Public is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a "common man." He is presumed to have no strong political or social biases relevant to whatever topic is at hand, and to represent the randomly selected "man on the street." The equivalent terms are John Q. Citizen and John Q. Taxpayer. Female equivalents include Jane Q. Public, or Jane Q. Citizen, Jane Q. Taxpayer, Jane Winecooler, and Ann Yone (from "anyone"). Roughly equivalent are Joe Six-pack, Joe Blow, and Joe Schmoe, implying a lower-class citizen (from the Yiddish schmo: simpleton or possibly Hebrew sh'mo: (what's)-his-name).  Similar terms for the common family can be Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Public, Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Citizen, or Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Taxpayer

The equivalent in the United Kingdom is Joe (or Jane) Public, Joe Bloggs, or Tommy Atkins.

The equivalent in Greece is John Q. Publikopolous.

There is also a blue singlet wearing Aussie (Australian)—the singlet being a kind of shirt known to Americans as a "tank top".

In Internet culture, the generic name of choice is J. Random ______, where the surname is used to refer to a job or role, as in J. Random Hacker. This formation is thought to be taken from the name of J. Presper Eckert, builder of one of the first digital computers.

John Q. Public

See also