How to Find Someone with Just a Name on the Internet

Is it really possible to find people by name using online search engines and sites? And what can you do if there is no information available? And most importantly, what should you do if all you know about the person is their first name, probably the city where they live, or other basic details?

In today's guide, we'll talk about the best ways to find someone on the Internet with just their name. Of course, that may take less or more time, depending on the strategies you prefer. But if you want to save time and effort, then the following first method will be the right choice to find people online in minutes, even if all the details you have about them are simply names.

Finding people on the Internet by name

1. People search tool

This search system is one of a few tools that allow you to search for someone using their first name only, and city or state if that's possible. So, it doesn't matter if you know where the person lives or not; that information can show you full reports with contact details and personal information. In other words, you can make the search results faster if you choose a state or city. But it's not always mandatory to run a search on someone's name in the USA.

Unlike regular search engines, when we talk about tools specialized in finding people online in the United States, we also talk about private databases of information that they collect in many ways. Thus, it's like a big source of data with millions of names, locations, phones, etc.

In addition, access to these private databases requires membership. And it's worth it if you don't want to waste hours and days browsing profiles on social media networks or even on Google search. That's not all; modern search engines combine dozens or even more sources of data, and they show members full background reports about the specific person they searched for by name.

What's cool about any dedicated tool to search for people on the Internet is that users get the option to search by state or city. And there are other options, like emails or phone numbers. Hence, you can find the person you're searching for even without knowing their last name. But make sure you browse the profiles carefully to find the right one.

Now, after typing the person's name in the search box, what you may get as information is the following:

• The person's last name

• His possible email address

• Where he or she lives

• Possible social media accounts

• Their sites or blogs

• Previous addresses

• The cell numbers they have and more

2. A private search specialist

If you tried other methods to search for someone by name with no luck, then you may need to hire a private investigator. In reality, you can use this search specialist service. That way, you forget the hassle of filtering search results, looking online, and wasting time with Google searching for someone you missed by their name.

3. Searching for them on Google

Because Google is the largest search engine in the world, it has more to offer, like information. However, web crawlers and algorithms won't be able to index every piece of information about others. That's because the website may prefer hiding the data. And in other cases, it's not always true that everything you find on websites or blogs is real or even true.

That's why we suggest using the advanced search system that Google offers. It lets you filter the search result pages the way you want and only get specific information. And in our case, it's the first name of the guy or woman you want to locate.

Let's say, for example, that a person is looking for someone, and everything that he knows about them is their first name, "John". So, in Google, type the name "John" inside quotes, and if there is any other information you already know about him, add it. That includes the place where he lives, the type of car he owns, the color of his hair, etc. All this additional data can tell Google to scan the huge databases and only look for the exact person you want to find.

4. YouTube

YouTube is a search engine on its own, and lots of people think that because it's owned by Google, the search is the same when the truth is different. When you search for a person's name on YouTube, you get different search results compared to Google because the systems are not the same.

Moreover, millions of people watch YouTube videos, and if Google asks them to create an account, they may neglect privacy settings. That can make their profiles easy to find by a simple search with the name.

Here is another trick about YouTube: you can change the country and even the language if that's what you look for. Then, type in the first name of the person you're searching for and see if there are any linked accounts.

5. Search for the name through social media networks

Social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter offer people search tools that anyone can use. So it's not that hard to find a person without using his last name or any other detail. After all, getting personal information about people you don't know is not always possible. People may prefer keeping their online profiles private or not indexable by search engines. But once you use the site directly, there are possibilities to find their accounts there, by name only.

6. Bing and Yahoo

Yahoo does not have its own search engine algorithms like Google. Instead, it relies on Bing to offer similar search features that Google is well-known for. Bing has a different algorithm that finds web pages and indexes them. So, when you search for any information about anybody, the search result won't be the same as Google. That's a good feature to find information that's not available for the world's main search engine.

7. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is another way to find people online with their names. To do that, visit the site and in the search box located at the top-left corner of the page. Then, type the person's name, and click to validate. If there are lots of profiles to go through, then, use the filter tool.

Filtering those names can make things easy for you. By adding other information or clicking on any extra parameter, LinkedIn can show you the profile of the person you want to see.

Some of the search filters that LinkedIn offers when you search for someone's name are:

• The location

• Interests

• language

• Schools, and more.

Add all the details you know about people, because that can reduce the time needed to get their exact profile on LinkedIn.

Can you find people by their first name only?

As you can see from the above information, you can find almost anyone on the Internet by their first name and city if you know that. But if the person has no information available online, then it may be a little complicated to locate where they live or see if they have any social media accounts. That means the availability of the information plays an important role in locating people online if all you know about them is their first names.

Tracking someone on the Internet by their name could take minutes or longer, depending on many factors. That being said, most people neglect the fact that every piece of information counts and helps in searching for their friends and strangers.

That's why we strongly recommend gathering as much information as you can about the specific person you need to find online. It's possible to find them by name, but what if there are thousands of individuals who have the same name?

Conclusion

This is all about finding someone online without using their last name, even with just their first name. Many search methods, like the ones above, can work. But make sure you choose the right tool. Also, keep in mind that the more information you collect about the person, the better you can search for and find him or her. So, if you have a picture or any other information, don't neglect that and use it as an extra technique to find other details.