where did they get the name john doe
John Doe The name "John Doe" (or "John Doo"), "Richard Roe," along with "John Roe", were regularly invoked in English legal instruments to satisfy technical requirements governing standing and jurisdiction, beginning perhaps as early as the reign of England's King Edward III (1327â€“1377).[6] Other fictitious names for a person involved in litigation in medieval English law were "John Noakes" (or "Nokes") and "John-a-Stiles" (or "John Stiles").[7]