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I'm designing a software to receive requests from users. In my request detail window, I have a field called "Requested By" to store the name of the person who made the request. However, "Requested By" is very hard to use in a message such as:

"Do you really want to send an email to the requested by?"

I'm looking for a noun to replace "requested by". So, my question is: What do you call someone who makes a request?

The requester, the initiator...

I have already rejected "Applicant" because in my case the user is not applying; he is requesting.

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I would go with "requestor" because they are making a request.

Other phrases used for similar concepts in some of the various software tools installed on my workstation: "originator" (but it applies generally, in a system that has more than just "requests"), "creator", "initiator".

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    I completely disagree. Requester may be a word but in my view it's not in common usage. Go with something longer if possible.
    – Alan
    Jul 25, 2011 at 20:09
  • @Alan: I've seen it in a number of different software systems, which is what the OP is asking about. The most recent I recall is BMC Remedy, and it uses it in a manner similar to what I understand the OP wants to do.
    – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner
    Jul 25, 2011 at 20:22
  • @Alan - In a business environment, "requestor" is quite common. However, I can't find this form of the word (or "requester") in any dictionary other than the free dictionary. Anyone else have any luck?
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Jul 25, 2011 at 22:08
  • Google Ngrams says that requester is now just as common as supplicant, which is definitely an English word (albeit somewhat outdated). I'd say go ahead and use "requester."
    – Peter Shor
    Jul 25, 2011 at 23:31
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    Guys, could we get real, please? Requester is now just as common as supplicant might well be true and is supplicant a term in modern use, or not? When did you last hear or even read about anyone using either supplicant or requestor?
    – Robbie Goodwin
    Sep 27, 2017 at 21:16
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If you are not limited in space, you could use

Do you really want to send an email to the person who made the request?

Otherwise, requester is an acceptable English word to express this same thing.

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  • Uh… Kit, that Free Dictionary link is to one praying humbly for something; "a suppliant for her favors". Isn't that more archaic, than acceptable?
    – Robbie Goodwin
    Sep 26, 2017 at 20:59
  • It links to the root word, request, which is "To express a desire for, especially politely; ask for." and "To ask (a person) to do something". It's not at all archaic.
    – Kit Z. Fox ♦
    Sep 26, 2017 at 21:05
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For this context, might you be able to get away with user, customer, or client?

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Depending on your context, you can use Requester or Requestor

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In diplomatic terms, the word is a demandeur.

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For this context, might you be able to get away with inquirer.

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Solicitant – a generic name for a person who makes a request. Rarely used in English.

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Where I work we use the term "caller" on electronic forms for someone who makes a request, as someone who "calls" for a request.

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Sly, why, please, would it be difficult to use, for instance, Do you want to send an e-mail to Tommy Atkins? What problem might that cause? Equally, why would Kit’s Do you really want to send an email to the person who made the request not work?

Did you really mean I’m designing a software, please? Did you really mean a request detail window? In many places those questions might be irrelevant nit-picking and here, they matter. Here, it matters exactly why a field needs to be named Requested By and if it does, why the message needs to use the field name, specifically? Modern English just doesn’t get specific in areas like that.

Please consider who might be making this request? Could it be a colleague, a supplier, a customer or potential customer? In any case, does it need to be a named individual or might it just as easily be an organisation?

If you must make so many different aspects of your SW design dependant on what will necessarily be a problematic noun, why not use questor, as at ? That might sound a little odd but no other word could fill your bill better, nor anything like as well.

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In French one would say "suppliant" translated supplicant.

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    In this case the French does not translate well; "supplicant" has a very definite meaning beyond just "one who asks". (Specifically, it is "a person who asks for something in a respectful way from a powerful person or God", according to m-w.com.)
    – Hellion
    Apr 18, 2015 at 14:58

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