Guide · 7 min read

How to find someone by name

You've got a name. Maybe a city. You want to find that person online — an old friend, a birth relative, a new business contact, or someone you need to verify. Here are the free sources that work, in the order to try them.

Before you start: three things that dramatically narrow the search

• Approximate age. Even "in their 40s" filters out most namesakes.
• A city or state they've lived in. Cuts millions of results into dozens.
• A photo. Even a bad one. It's your tiebreaker at the end.

Step 1 — Search their name in quotes on Google

Start with the free version. In Google, search "First Last" city. The quotes force an exact match. Add a job title, school, or company if you have one. This alone finds a lot of people with distinctive names.

Step 2 — Check the big platforms directly

Sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram don't always surface in Google. Search the name directly on each. LinkedIn is best for professionals; Facebook is best for older adults and family; Instagram catches most people under 40.

Step 3 — Free public records

The US has an enormous amount of public-record data online, most of it free:

• County court records — most counties have a free case-search portal.
• Voter registration — free in many states, shows address history.
• Property records — county assessor sites, free.
• Business filings — Secretary of State websites for every state.

These are slow to search one-by-one, but they're the raw source that paid people-search sites resell.

Step 4 — Use a people search tool

Once you've exhausted the free path, a people search tool combines all the above into one query. You type a name + state and it returns social profiles, address history, relatives, and known aliases. Discover Anyone does this and cross-checks with a photo if you have one, so you can tell namesakes apart.

Step 5 — Use a photo as the tiebreaker

Common names have hundreds of matches. A photo cuts through that instantly. Run the photo through a face-based reverse image search and cross-reference it against the profiles you found in Step 4. The one with the matching face is your person.

Is this legal?

Yes. Searching public records and public social media is legal in every US state and most countries. What's not legal is using this data for stalking, harassment, credit decisions, employment screening, or tenant screening (those require FCRA-compliant services). For personal verification, reconnecting, or safety checks — you're fine.

Common gotchas

• Common names. "John Smith" has thousands of matches. Always add city or age.
• Maiden names. Women changing names on marriage breaks the search chain. Try both.
• Nicknames. "Bob" vs "Robert." Search both.
• Someone who's private by design. Some people just don't leave a public footprint. That's a real result, not a search failure.