Ivan Ivanovich

English

Alternative forms

• Ivan Ivanovitch

Etymology

Borrowed from Russian Ива́н Ива́нович (Iván Ivánovič, literally “John Johnson”).

Noun

Ivan Ivanovich (plural Ivan Ivanoviches or Ivan Ivanovichs)

1. An anonymous or stereotypical Russian man; a Russian John Smith or Joe Q. Public.
2. (fiction) Synonym of John Doe (an unknown person or body), giving a Russian flavour to fiction set in Russia, by using a Russian name in place of the English term.

Coordinate terms

• John Bull

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Ivan Ivanovich”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)