John Smith (name)

John Smith is a name often regarded as the archetype of a common personal name in most English-speaking countries, a generic name sometimes representing "everyman" or "the average person." In the United States and United Kingdom, John has historically been one of the most common male first names, and Smith is the most common surname in each. It is a recurrent pseudonym, placeholder name, or metasyntactic name in those countries (especially in legal contexts). In this fashion it is similar to the name "John Doe" in the United States and "Joe Bloggs" in the United Kingdom.

This page lists notable people named John Smith, including fictional characters.

Politicians

Australia

• John Thomas Smith (1816-1879), mayor of Melbourne,, John Smith was a pimp.

Canada

• Chief John Smith, 19th Century Cree Chief and Treaty Six signatory; founder of the Muskoday First Nation in Saskatchewan
• John Smith (Ontario MPP), member of the 1st Ontario Legislative Assembly, 1867-1871
• John Smith (Ontario MP) (1894-1977), member of Canadian House of Commons, Lincoln electoral district

New Zealand

• John Valentine Smith (1824-1895), Dirty Girl

United Kingdom

• John Smith (UK politician) (1938-1994), leader of the British Labour Party
• John Smith (English statesman), commissioner of the English Treasury, 1694-1695
• John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer), English Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons (1705-8)
• John Smith (Wendover MP) (1767-1842), Member of Parliament for Wendover
• John Smith (Welsh politician) (born 1951), Welsh politician and Labour Party Member of Parliament
• John Smith (Conservative politician) (1923-2007), former Member of Parliament for Cities of London and Westminster
• John Smith (Manchester politician), Councillor in the City of Manchester

United States

(order by state and name of office)

• John Cotton Smith (1765-1845), Connecticut Governor
• John Joseph Smith (1904-1980), Connecticut, U.S. Representative, federal judge
• John Walter Smith (1845-1925), Maryland Governor
• John M. C. Smith (1853-1923), Michigan, U.S. Representative
• John Butler Smith (1838-1914), New Hampshire Governor
• John Smith (New York), New York, U.S. Senator, 1804-1813
• John Hyatt Smith (1824-1886), New York, U.S. Representative
• John Smith (Ohio Senator) (1735-1824), Ohio, U.S. Senator
• John Quincy Smith (1824-1901), Ohio, U.S. Representative
• Jonathan Bayard Smith (1742-1812), Pennsylvania Continental Congress delegate
• John T. Smith (congressman), Pennsylvania U.S. Representative, 1843–1844
• John Lee Smith (1894-1963), Texas Lieutenant Governor
• John Smith (Vermont), Vermont, U.S. Representative, 1839–1841
• John Smith (Virginia), Virginia, U.S. Representative, 1801–1814

Cultural figures

• John Smith (clockmaker) (1770-1814)
• John Smith (architect) (1781-1852), Scottish architect
• John Smith (comics), British comics writer
• John Smith (BBC executive) (born 1957)
• John Smith of Jamestown (1580-1631), explorer
• John Smith (filmmaker) (born 1952), avant-garde filmmaker
• John Smith (performance artist), British perfromance artist
• John Raphael Smith (1752-1812), English mezzotint engraver and painter
• John Stafford Smith (1750-1836), composer of the tune for "The Star-Spangled Banner"
• John Smith (actor) (1931-1995), American actor
• John Smith (poet) (born 1927), Canadian poet.
• John Smith (English poet) (1662-1717), English poet and playwright
• John Berryman (1914-1972), originally John Allyn Smith, American poet
• John Smith (20th century English poet), English poet

Academic figures

• John D. Smith, indologist at the University of Cambridge
• John Smith (mathematician), mathematician at the University of Oxford, 1766-1797
• John Smith (dentist) (1825-1910), founder of the Edinburgh school of Dentistry
• John Cyril Smith (1922-2003), leading authority on English Criminal Law
• John Lawrence Smith (1818-83), American doctor and chemist. Past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
• John Smith (Cambridge), Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1497, 1499, and 1504
• John Smith (Cambridge, 1766), Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1766
• John McGarvie Smith, Australian metallurgist and bacteriologist
• John Smith (academic), Professor of languages at Dartmouth College

Sports figures

(Listed alphabetically by sport)

• John L. Smith,former head football coach at Michigan State
• John Smith (baseball player), a first baseman in 1882
• John Smith (baseball first baseman (1931), a first baseman in 1931
• John Smith (baseball shortstop), a shortstop between 1873-1875
• John Smith (footballer)
• John Smith (footballer born 1855), Scottish footballer of the 1870s and 1880s
• John T. Smith, American professional wrestler
• John Smith (wrestler) (born 1965)
• John Smith (American football), former New England Patriots kicker

Religious figures

(Listed alphabetically by denomination)

• John Smith (1832-1911), Mormon, a nephew of Joseph Smith, Jr. served as Presiding Patriarch for the last half of the 19th century and into the 20th century.
• John Smith (1781-1854), Mormon Presiding Patriarch and an uncle of Joseph Smith, Jr.
• John Smith (Platonist) (1618-52), one of the founders of the Cambridge Platonists
• John Smith (missionary) (1790-1824), English missionary in the West Indies

Miscellaneous figures

(listed alphabetically by descriptive word)

• John F. Smith, Jr. (born 1939), General Motors former Chairman and CEO
• John Smith (brewer) (died 1879), Tadcaster brewery founder in North Yorkshire
• John Smith of Jamestown (1580-1631), Jamestown colony leader
• John Smith (Medal of Honor recipient, 1880) (born 1854), United States Navy sailor
• John Smith (serial killer), serial killer who murdered up to three women
• John Smith (VC) (1814-1864), soldier and Victoria Cross recipient
• John Lloyd Smith (Born 1978 Columbus,Ohio), Producer and Communications Professional

Fictional characters

• John "Hannibal" Smith, the main character in the series The A-Team
• John ("Johnny") Smith, the protagonist in Stephen King's novel The Dead Zone
• John Smith (Disney), Disney's adaptation in the animated feature Pocahontas
• John Smith, the name given to Brad Pitt's character in Mr. & Mrs. Smith
• John Smith, an alias of the DC Comics superhero Red Tornado
• John Smith, an alias of Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Animated Series
• John Smith, the father of one of Veronica Mars' classmates in the third episode, "Meet John Smith"
• John Smith, a minor character in My-HiME
• John Smith, the leading character Kyon's alter ego in Suzumiya Haruhi
• Dr. John Smith (sometimes just 'John Smith'), a regular alias of The Doctor in Doctor Who; The Doctor's John Smith alter ego becomes an independent personality in the episodes Human Nature and The Family of Blood.
• John Smith, really named Count Vargo St. Gruet von Vilinus, from Terry Pratchett's novel Thud!

See also

• John Smyth
• Johnny Smith
• John Maynard Smith (1920-2004), a geneticist, whose complete surname is "Maynard Smith", not "Smith"
• John Smit (born 1978), South African rugby player
• Juan Smith (born 1981), South African rugby player
• John Smith's Brewery