''Nomen nescio'' (), abbreviated to ''N.N.'', is used to signify an
anonymous
Anonymous may refer to:
* Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown
** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author
* Anony ...
or unnamed person. From
Latin ''nomen'' – "name", and ''nescio'' – "I do not know", it literally means "I do not know the name". The generic name
Numerius Negidius ''Numerius Negidius'' is a name used in Roman jurisprudence, based on a play on words: '' Numerius'' is a Roman praenomen, or forename, resembling the verb ''numero'', "I pay"; while ''Negidius'' has the form of a gentile name formed from the verb ...
used in
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
times was chosen partly because it shared initials with this phrase.
Usage
One use for this name is to protect against retaliation when reporting a
crime or company
fraud. In the
Netherlands, a police suspect who refuses to give his name is given an "N.N. number." In
Germany and
Belgium, ''N.N.'' is also frequently seen in
university course lists, indicating that a course will take place but that the lecturer is not yet known; the abbreviation in this case means ''nomen nominandum'' – "the name is to be announced". Thus, the meaning is different from the above definition and is the same as
TBD (to be decided).
''N. N.'' is commonly used in the scoring of
chess games,
not only when one participant's name is genuinely unknown but when an untitled player faces a master, as in a
simultaneous exhibition. Another reason is to protect a known player from the insult of a painful defeat.
Genealogists often use the abbreviation to signify an unknown or partially unknown name (such as ''N.N.'' Jones).
It has increased in usage in online gaming as an insult to mean that someone is unknown within the community.
See also
*
Placeholder name
Placeholder names are words that can refer to things or people whose names do not exist, are temporarily forgotten, are not relevant to the salient point at hand, are to avoid stigmatization, are unknowable/unpredictable in the context in whi ...
*
List of placeholder names by language
This is a list of placeholder names (words that can refer to things, persons, places, numbers and other concepts whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed) in various languages. ...
*
A. N. Other A. N. Other is used as a placeholder name or, less commonly, a pseudonym used by a person wishing to remain anonymous. It is most used in the United Kingdom, often written as AN Other. Occasionally it may be abbreviated to ANO, or—in cases wh ...
*
John Doe
John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are ofte ...
*
Hudjefa Hudjefa is an ancient Egyptian word meaning "missing" or "erased". It was used by the royal scribes of the Ramesside era during the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, when the scribes compiled king lists such as the Abydos King List, the royal table o ...
References
Roman law
Anonymity pseudonyms
Latin words and phrases
Genealogy
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