Which names are used to refer to ordinary people in general in English-speaking countries?

The phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" is a placeholder for unspecified people. The phrase most commonly occurs as "every Tom, Dick, and Harry", meaning everyone, and "any Tom, Dick, or Harry", meaning anyone, although "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" defines the term to specify "a set of nobodies; persons of no note".

The origin of the phrase is unknown. The earliest known citation is from the 17th-century English theologian John Owen (1616 – 24 August 1683) who used the phrase in 1657. Owen told a governing body at Oxford University that "our critical situation and our common interests were discussed out of journals and newspapers by every Tom, Dick and Harry."

English-speaking medical students use the phrase in memorizing the order of an artery, and a nerve, and the three tendons of the flexor retinaculum in the lower leg.