Richard Roe

American  

[roh] / roʊ /

noun

1. a fictitious name used in legal proceedings for a male party whose true name is not known, used especially as the second such name when two male persons are involved whose real names have not been ascertained.

---

Etymology

Origin of Richard Roe

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

The four others who have sued are also seeking to retain their anonymity: John Doe, Charles Coe, Michael Moe and Richard Roe.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2021

In the final pages, Richard Roe is relieved of duty after a breakdown—Green’s rebuke to the evolving myth of the stoical “Blitz spirit”—and becomes frustrated as he struggles to recapture the experience of firefighting:

From The New Yorker • Oct. 10, 2016

Mr. Oberlander responded by stating that the judge had "just put into the record that I am Richard Roe," but quickly added that the fact was hardly a secret.

From New York Times • Aug. 22, 2012

The dispute is considered so sensitive that courts have substituted the name John Doe for the businessman, and Richard Roe for the lawyer who filed the case, Frederick M. Oberlander.

From New York Times • Feb. 6, 2012

I suppose that it is from these Biblical examples that the wives of this Republic are known as Mrs. John Doe or Mrs. Richard Roe, to whatever Roe or Doe she may belong.

From The Woman's Bible by Stanton, Elizabeth Cady