David Rosen of Bethesda, Md., asks about the origin of "John Doe" and "Richard Roe" as the names of unknown men in legal proceedings. The book "What's in a Name?" by our word-expert friend Paul Dickson has the answer. Both names come from a famous 14th-century English legal document from the reign of King Richard III. It's just a coincidence that both surnames are terms for deer.

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