How to look someone up by name: free and paid ways to find people online

Quick answer

To look someone up by name, search their full name in quotes with a city or employer, check LinkedIn and other social platforms, look them up in professional registries (state licensing boards, FINRA BrokerCheck, Companies House), and search county and court records yourself. A people-search site like Search A-Z combines these into one report. Use what you find for safety and verification only, never for hiring, renting or harassment.

Key numbers

• $3.5 billionreported lost to imposter scams in the US in 2025, nearly triple 2020FTC, June 2026
• $15.9 billionreported lost to fraud in the US in 2025, across 3 million reportsFTC, March 2026
• 600+registered data brokers Californians can ask to delete their data in one request through the state's DROP platformCalifornia Privacy Protection Agency

You have a name. Maybe it's a new date, a landlord, a buyer on Marketplace, a business contact, someone who emailed you out of nowhere, or an old friend you lost touch with. You want to know if they're real, and who they are, without paying for something you could find yourself.

It's worth checking. Americans reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, according to the FTC, nearly triple 2020, and total reported fraud losses hit $15.9 billion. A few minutes of searching is often enough to tell a real person from an invented one. This guide covers every method, free first, and what the law lets you do with the results.

How do I look someone up by name?

Start with a search engine, then social and professional platforms, then official registries and public records, and use a people-search site to pull it together. Here's the order that works best:

1. Collect what you know. Full name, plus anything else: city, employer, school, approximate age, phone, email, username, photo.
2. Search the name in quotes with one detail. “Jordan Ellis” Denver works far better than Jordan Ellis.
3. Check LinkedIn and social platforms for a matching face, location and history.
4. Check official registries if they claim a profession or a company.
5. Search public records (property, court, business filings) where you live and they live.
6. Run a people search to connect the pieces and check their phone and email.
7. Compare. Do the details agree with what they told you? Mismatches matter more than any single result.

Free or paid: which should you use?

Free methods are enough when the person has a distinctive name and an obvious online footprint. A paid people search saves time when the name is common, the person claims a job or location you can't easily confirm, or you have a phone number or email you want checked.

How do I search for someone on Google?

Put the full name in quotation marks and add one detail at a time, using the operators Google documents on its Refine Google searches page. Quotes force the exact name, and site: limits results to one website.

Try name variations too: a middle initial, a maiden name, a nickname (Bill for William), and the name in the order it's written in their country. Check the News tab and Images tab, and try a second search engine such as Bing or DuckDuckGo, which index different pages.

Common names need more context. If “John Smith” returns millions of results, add two details (city and employer, or school and graduation year) before drawing any conclusion.

How do I find someone on social media?

Search the name on each platform directly, because most social profiles aren't fully indexed by Google. Use what each platform is good for:

• LinkedIn: job history, employer, education and mutual connections. Check that the profile has a history, not just a photo and a title.
• Facebook: filter people search by city, school or workplace. Look at profile age, friends and tagged photos from other people.
• Instagram, TikTok and X: search the name and likely usernames. A username reused across platforms often links accounts.
• Local and niche sites: club pages, alumni lists, church or charity sites, sports results and company “team” pages.

To check whether a photo is really theirs, run a reverse image search with Google Lens or TinEye. If the same face appears under a different name, that's a strong sign of a fake profile. Our guide on how to verify someone from a dating app goes deeper on photo and profile checks.

Do people-search sites actually work?

People-search sites work well for confirming who someone is and connecting scattered public information, but they can't see private data and they can mix up people with similar names. Here's what to expect:

Watch for sites that promise everything. In 2023 the FTC said TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate deceived users about report accuracy, including flagging people as having criminal records when the record was a traffic ticket. The companies agreed to pay $5.8 million. Treat any report as leads to confirm, not as fact.

How a Search A-Z search works

1. Enter the full name and country (US, UK or a European country) and pick a reason: Business contact, Dating match, Check yourself or General search.
2. Add optional details to sharpen the match: email, phone, city, state or region, company or age range.
3. Read the match confidence. The report says how sure we are it's the right person. If we can't find the right person, it says so instead of guessing.
4. Review the findings: current job and company, work history, education, public social and professional profiles, news and web mentions from a live web search, public scam or fraud warnings, and phone and email checks (real or not, line type such as mobile, landline or VoIP, and fraud risk). US searches can include public records such as addresses, phones and age. Dating searches show only the city, never a home address or relatives. UK and Europe searches cover professional and public web information only.

The person is never told you searched. You can start a general search here.

How do I search public records by name for free?

In the US, most public records sit with the county or state, and you can search many of them free on official sites. You need to know roughly where the person lives or has lived.

US county records

• Property records: the county assessor or recorder lets you search owners by name or address. Useful for checking a landlord actually owns the rental.
• Court records: search “[county] county clerk of court records” or your state judiciary's case search. Civil suits, evictions, small claims, divorces and criminal cases are usually public, though access rules vary by state.
• Business filings: the Secretary of State's business search shows companies and their registered agents and officers.
• Marriage, birth and death records: held by county or state vital records offices, often with restrictions on recent records.

Federal court records

PACER covers federal courts, including bankruptcy. Register for a case search account and use the PACER Case Locator to search by name across courts. Check the fees on the site before you download documents.

Sex offender registries

You can search the public National Sex Offender Public Website yourself, by name or location. It searches the registries of all 50 states, DC, US territories and Indian Country at once.

Court and record searches on common names produce false matches. Confirm with a middle name, date of birth or address before you treat a record as theirs, and never act on one alone.

How do I check if someone is licensed or registered?

Use the official register for the profession they claim; these are free and the most reliable source for that one fact.

• Financial advisers and brokers (US): FINRA BrokerCheck shows registration, employment history and disciplinary actions.
• Lawyers: your state bar's attorney search. UK: the Solicitors Regulation Authority register.
• Doctors and nurses: your state medical or nursing board. UK: the GMC and NMC registers.
• Contractors and trades: your state contractor licensing board, or your city or county for trades the state doesn't license.
• Company directors (UK): Companies House lets you search officers by name for free, with their appointments and company status.
• Financial firms (UK): the FCA register shows authorized firms and individuals.
• Companies worldwide: the LEI register (GLEIF) lists legal entities with their registration details.

If someone says they're a director, adviser or licensed professional and isn't on the register, that's one of the clearest warning signs you can find. For work contacts, our guide on researching someone before a meeting has a full checklist.

Is it legal to look someone up?

Yes, looking up public information about someone is legal in the US, UK and EU. What matters is why you look and what you do with it.

• Checking a date, seller, landlord, contractor, business contact or someone who contacted you is a normal, proportionate safety check.
• Reconnecting with someone is fine, as long as you respect it if they don't want contact.
• Checking what's out there about yourself is always fine.

• Hiring, tenant screening, credit and insurance decisions need a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA, with the person's consent and specific notices. People-search results, including Search A-Z's, can't be used for this. See people search vs background check.
• Stalking and harassment. Using what you find to follow, monitor, threaten or repeatedly contact someone who doesn't want it is a crime. If you're afraid of someone, go to the police rather than investigating them.
• Doxxing. Posting someone's address or personal details to shame or target them can break harassment laws and platform rules.
• Pretexting. Pretending to be someone else to get records from a bank, phone company or agency is illegal.

How is looking someone up different in the UK and Europe?

In the UK and EU, data protection law (UK GDPR and the EU GDPR) limits what can be collected and published about people, so there's far less public-record data than in the US. Expect professional and public web information, not home addresses and phone books.

• UK: the full electoral register isn't public. A subset called the open register can be bought by anyone, but people can opt out, so it's incomplete. Companies House, the FCA register, professional registers and court lists are the main official sources. Criminal records aren't searchable by the public: a person can request their own basic DBS check, and employers use DBS checks with consent.
• Criminal data: the ICO says a comprehensive register of criminal convictions can only be kept under official authority, which is why there's no UK equivalent of a US criminal records search site.
• EU: each country has its own business register, and criminal records usually go only to the person concerned. In Sweden, for example, police say you may only request a record extract about yourself. Under Article 14 GDPR, organizations that collect data about people from other sources generally have to tell them, with some exceptions.

The US is also tightening. California's DROP platform has let residents send one deletion request to over 600 registered data brokers since January 2026, and brokers had to start processing those requests from August 2026. If you'd rather not be found yourself, see our opt-out page and our guide to removing yourself from people search sites.

Bottom line

Start free: the name in quotes with a city or employer, social platforms, official registries and county or court records. A people search connects those pieces faster and checks the phone and email they gave you. Confirm anything important from two sources, use it to stay safe rather than to judge or pursue someone, and never use it for hiring or renting decisions.

Frequently asked questions

How can I look someone up by name for free?

Search their full name in quotes with a city or employer, check LinkedIn and social platforms, search official registries (state licensing boards, FINRA BrokerCheck, Companies House), and use county and state court search portals. Run a reverse image search on their photo with Google Lens or TinEye.

Will someone know if I look them up?

Not from a Google search, public records or a Search A-Z search: the person is never told you searched. Some social platforms, such as LinkedIn, can show that you viewed a profile depending on your settings.

How do I find someone's address by name?

In the US, county property records show owners by name, and some people-search reports include public-record addresses. In the UK and EU, home addresses are mostly protected by data protection law. Only look for an address for a legitimate reason, and never to turn up uninvited.

Can I find someone's criminal record by name?

In the US, many court records are public: search your state or county court portal, PACER for federal cases, and the National Sex Offender Public Website. Search A-Z doesn't provide criminal or court records. In the UK and EU, criminal records generally go only to the person or, with consent, to employers.

Is it legal to use a people-search site?

Yes, for personal reasons like checking a date, seller or business contact. It's not legal to use people-search results for hiring, tenant screening, credit or insurance decisions; those need an FCRA consumer reporting agency.

Why can't a people search find someone?

Common names, little online presence, recent name changes, privacy settings and opt-outs all make people harder to find, and UK and EU privacy law limits what's published. A good report says when it can't find the right person instead of guessing.

How accurate are people-search sites?

They're only as good as their sources and matching. Results can mix up people with the same name or include outdated details. Check the match confidence and confirm important facts from a second, official source.

Sources

1. FTC: FTC data show people reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025 (June 2026)
2. FTC: FTC testifies before the Joint Economic Committee (March 2026)
3. Google Search Help: Refine Google searches
4. FTC: TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate deceived users about background report accuracy (September 2023)
5. PACER: Public Access to Court Electronic Records
6. FINRA BrokerCheck
7. Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW)
8. GOV.UK: Searching the Companies House register
9. Leeds City Council: The electoral and open register
10. ICO: What are the rules on criminal offence data?
11. Swedish Police: Check your own information in the criminal record
12. GDPR Article 14: information where data not obtained from the data subject
13. California Privacy Protection Agency: Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP)

Figures are the latest published by each source when this guide was updated. Reported fraud losses are a floor: most fraud is never reported.