JDBC problem with DELETE

The following piece of code:
  stmt.executeUpdate("delete from friend where name='"+someName+"'");

is returning:
  SQLException: java.sql.SQLException: ERROR: Attribute 'John Doe' not
found

where someName is "John Doe".

Any ideas?  The row where name='John Doe' is definitely in the table and I
can execute the statement without problems from psql.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards,
//Dave