Joe Shmoe is one of the most commonly used fictional name

Name

A name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name...

s in American English

American English

American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....

. It is used to identify the typical, everyday person who does not have any special status, frequently in contrast to some group. Adding a "Shm" to the beginning of a word is meant to diminish, negate, or dismiss an argument (for instance, "Rain, shmain, we've got a game to play"). This process was adapted in English from the use of the "schm" prefix

Shm-reduplication

Shm-reduplication is a form of reduplication in which the original word or its first syllable is repeated with the copy beginning with shm- , pronounced...

 in Yiddish

Yiddish language

Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...

 to dismiss something; as in, "Fancy, schmancy."

While "schmo" ("schmoo," "schmoe") was thought by some linguists to be a clipping of Yiddish "schmuck", an etymology supported by the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...

, that derivation is not universally accepted.

See also

• Joe Bloggs
• Joe Blow
• John Doe
  John Doe
  The name "John Doe" is used as a placeholder name in a legal action, case or discussion for a male party, whose true identity is unknown or must be withheld for legal reasons. The name is also used to refer to a male corpse or hospital patient whose identity is unknown...
  
  
• John Q. Public
  John Q. Public
  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 represent the randomly selected "man on the street."...
  
  
• Average Joe
  Average Joe
  Average Joe is an American reality television show broadcast on the NBC beginning in 2003. There were a total of four seasons, the first two following the original show premise, and the last two bringing back contestants from prior seasons.-Show Premise:...
  
  
• Placeholder name
• Joe the Plumber
  Joe the Plumber
  Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher , is a conservative activist, author, and commentator. A resident of Holland, Ohio, United States, he gained significant attention during the 2008 U.S. presidential election after he was videotaped questioning then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama about his small...
  
  
• Schmuck (pejorative)
  Schmuck (pejorative)
  __notoc__Schmuck or shmuck in American English is a pejorative meaning an obnoxious, contemptible or detestable person, or one who is stupid or foolish. The word entered English from Yiddish, where it has similar pejorative meanings, but its original meaning in Yiddish is penis...
  
  
• Shm-reduplication
  Shm-reduplication
  Shm-reduplication is a form of reduplication in which the original word or its first syllable is repeated with the copy beginning with shm- , pronounced...
  
  
• Man on the street
• Joe Sixpack