How To Find An Old Friend By Maiden Name

Desire to locate important people from your by that you've lost impact with? You definitely can. Looking for quondam friends may seem like a challenge, only finding them is probably easier than you recollect. From old classmates to onetime coworkers to cherished confidantes, it's possible to find people online—often for complimentary. Past using modern search methods, you tin turn a lost friendship into a renewed connection that adds actress joy and significant to your life.

That'due south why it'due south frequently worth the try to try to locate old friends. Besides, the resource that are available today make it very likely that your search volition be successful. Y'all just need to learn how to find a lost friend with the tool that is most widely used for that purpose—the Cyberspace.

At the most bones level, yous find an old friend on the Internet by using search engines like Google, social networking platforms like Facebook, personal data aggregators like TruthFinder, alumni websites, and other online resources. If the Cyberspace doesn't turn anything upwards, you lot can discover a long-lost friend by hiring a individual investigator (or using traditional investigative methods yourself).

Go along in mind that it'due south perfectly normal for people to lose touch with each other every bit the years go past. In fact, the number of friends in a person's life tends to superlative at about the historic period of 25, according to research in Royal Society Open up Scientific discipline. After that, friendships often drib off as people move abroad, go married, accept children, and focus on their careers. Then a lot of adults maintain fewer friendships than they did when they were younger because they simply accept less fourth dimension and energy to nurture them. But as an older adult, y'all may accept more time to restore important friendships and even cultivate new ones, especially if you're retired.

When yous find long-lost friends, the good feeling is often hard to describe. And if you're able to catch upwards and renew those friendships, it feels fifty-fifty better. Of course, not anybody wants to be establish. An old friend may not be interested in reconnecting. But you'll never know unless you try.

In this article, you'll detect plenty of practical tips about how to track someone downwards by name or by other types of information. You'll also acquire how to make completely new friends. Here's the best process to follow:

Become Organized

Earlier you begin your search for old friends, information technology's a skilful idea to plan how you will organize and keep track of the information you gather. Some people are super easy to find. But the more than challenging it becomes to discover sometime friends, the more than $.25 and pieces of data you'll take to sift through. Simply put, you lot find an sometime friend by being methodical and disciplined in your organizational habits.

The commencement thing you should decide is whether to organize everything electronically or on paper. Some people like to do both. Remember about how tech-savvy you are. Do you regularly use software on your reckoner or apps on your mobile devices to take notes, relieve documents, and organize the data in your life? Or are you more comfy with printing things out, writing stuff down, and putting everything in physical folders or notebooks?

Whichever method you choose, start thinking ahead about the types of information you lot may notice. That way, y'all tin can create separate categories for them and you'll take an easier time finding specific details as your search goes on. Having split up categories volition also make it easier to apace organize information as you go, identify conflicting info, compare sources, and move forward in your search without repeating something you've already washed.

So, for example, if you want to organize everything in concrete form, consider having split folders and/or notebooks for information gathered from each blazon of resources outlined in the rest of this article. You can likewise divide things up by information related to your former friend's locations, employers, potential contact information, and known (and possible) relatives and assembly. If you choose to organize information digitally, consider using a pop app like Evernote.

Collect Everything Y'all Have or Know About Your Old Friend

This pace is closely linked to the previous one. Essentially, y'all need to assemble and organize all of the information you lot already take. Y'all just can't figure out how to detect a long-lost friend unless yous make notes about what you retrieve or know to be true. After all, in gild to find someone online (or even through more traditional methods), you ever have to start with at to the lowest degree i solid piece of information. It's like solving a puzzle: The more pieces you lot have in place already, the easier it is to figure out the blank areas.

Try to remember and collect every bit many personal details every bit you can about your onetime buddy or gal pal. And if you accept current contact information for other people who knew your friend, get in bear on with them and inquire what they know or call up. For case, it'due south skilful to accept information such as your long-lost friend's:

Full name (or as close to this as possible)
Nicknames
Birth engagement or approximate age
Previous locations
Past addresses and/or telephone numbers
Erstwhile schools
Previous employers
Potential marital status
Possible friends, family members, and assembly
Hobbies and other personal interests
Professional ambitions

Photos can also exist useful since they may spark your memory or help other people remember. Of class, it's unlikely yous'll take all of that information. Just any y'all do happen to know is what you tin start edifice your search around.

Use Online Search Engines to Assemble More than Leads and Data

Knowing how to find someone for free on the Internet is a groovy skill to have. Information technology's a specially useful skill for finding old friends. And it all starts with search engines. You probably already know about Google, the earth's most popular search engine. But did you know that y'all tin sometimes get different results by using less-pop search engines such every bit Bing and DuckDuckGo?

Start with Google. Then, if you don't discover your former friend or you lot feel you've done equally much searching every bit you can on Google, try doing the same searches on at least two other search engines. That manner, you lot'll maximize your chances of finding information that leads to your old friend.

Brainstorm by searching for the proper noun of your long-lost friend. For example, allow'due south say you knew your friend equally Isabella Smith. Simply type that proper noun into the search bar and hit return. If your friend has a very common name, you lot'll become a lot of results for people who aren't the person yous're looking for. Simply if your friend has an unusual proper name, you may get lucky and see relevant results right abroad.

In any case, browse through at least the starting time five pages of results, carefully reading all the text to see if anything seems to apply to your one-time friend. If whatsoever of the results expect promising, correct-click on those links and open the linked spider web pages into new browser windows or tabs. (Ever work this fashion instead of just clicking on links and hitting the back button. That fashion, you can more hands render to where you were and not accept to worry about pages reloading or trying to find your place once again. Just be careful not to accidentally close an entire browser window of open tabs.)

To get ameliorate results, effort many additional searches that include actress bits of data based on what you already know about your old friend. If you know his or her first and last name, practise some searches with the full name in quotation marks followed past extra $.25 of info. Or if you besides know his or her eye name, middle initial, or nickname, try including those besides. For example, here are some example searches y'all would endeavour if you knew that your friend Isabella used to live in Denver, wanted to pursue a career in art, attended the University of Colorado, has a middle name starting with D, and may go by a nickname like Izzy or Bella:

"isabella smith"
"isabella smith" denver
"isabella smith" university of colorado
"isabella smith" artist
"isabella d smith" denver colorado
"izzy smith" artist denver
"bella smith" artist colorado

Try several different combinations. If yous recollect your erstwhile friend might accept married someone, include terms like "wedding" or "married" in your searches in case any marriage announcements accept been archived online that may provide you with a by or current married name.

Of class, you may not actually remember your long-lost friend's original concluding name. In that example, information technology's useful to know how to observe someone online with only a outset proper noun. When using a search engine, the best method is usually to type in all the information y'all know. And then, for case, your searches might wait similar this:

isabella denver colorado artist
izzy denver colorado artist
bella denver colorado creative person

In this example, it would also be worth doing some searches that include the give-and-take "designer." (People who are creative don't always pursue careers in the fine arts. Often, they pursue careers in more commercial fields that still utilize their talents. So information technology'southward smart to call up more broadly and practise some searches based on educated guesses about what your friend may have go.)

As well, don't forget to look at the image results for each search in Google. Y'all may get lucky and spot a picture of your old friend that links to a website with information you didn't take before. Y'all can also use a photo y'all already have of your friend and perform a reverse image search on Google or TinEye. That fashion, you can notice any places on the Spider web that include that particular prototype or maybe fifty-fifty other images that are very similar to it.

Equally you collect useful information, be sure to organize it past putting it under the appropriate category and making notation of exactly where it came from. Copy the link to the exact Web page if y'all tin can. In some cases, the data included in a Google search result may be difficult to find on the bodily source website. In that situation, only brand note of the specific information and the website it should be on then that you lot tin can take a more than thorough look at it later.

When you've gathered what you believe to be solid clues, start incorporating that information into additional searches. For example, mayhap you find clues that your friend Isabella moved to Seattle and married a guy with the last proper noun Brownish. Practice several new searches like the following examples (and be sure to include the maiden name in some of them):

"isabella brownish" seattle
"izzy dark-brown" seattle
"bella brown" seattle
"isabella brown" smith seattle
"isabella dark-brown" smith washington
"izzy brown" smith seattle
"bella brown" smith seattle

As you acquire more clues, proceed repeating the process. Some of the information you find may not exist accurate, or information technology may utilise to a different person than the one you're looking for. And so you will probably follow some clues that lead to expressionless ends. That's OK; it'southward all part of the process. Whatsoever clues that you tin can eliminate will ultimately assistance y'all hone in on the ones that are accurate and useful.

And don't overlook this powerful tip: Do the same kinds of searches for anyone who continues to come up upward as a possible relative or associate of your onetime friend. Annotation their locations and the people associated with them. It's oft the indirect path that finally leads to the person you want to detect.

Search Facebook and Other Social Networking Websites

Did you know that 68 percent of American adults use Facebook? Information technology'south truthful. Fifty-fifty a lot of older adults use the globe's most popular social networking platform. In fact, 65 pct of U.South. residents between the ages of 50 and 64—and almost 41 pct of seniors over age 65—are on Facebook, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. And then it'southward definitely possible to find people on Facebook if y'all have an business relationship on the platform (or know someone who does). In that location'southward no guarantee that y'all'll find your old friend this fashion, simply the odds are pretty expert that you'll at to the lowest degree glean some new information.

You search for someone on Facebook by logging into your account and using the search bar at the peak of the page. To begin with, you can simply type in your old friend'due south proper name and hit enter to run across who comes up. Then, correct under the search bar, click on "People." That manner, yous can browse the entire list of people who have your friend's proper noun (or a similar name). Unless the name is adequately uncommon, yous'll likely become many results.

If y'all recognize your friend in any of the photos, then—congratulations—y'all've probably plant him or her. If not, click on each of the individual results to check out the personal profiles and see whether anyone seems to fit your friend'south description. While doing that, make certain you click the "About" tab underneath the profile photo, since that's where you lot'll usually find the best identifying information (as long as the person's contour isn't private). Failing that, try some additional searches. For example, your searches might look like the following. (Remember to include the person's maiden name in some of them, if applicative):

isabella brown
izzy chocolate-brown
bella brownish
isabella smith dark-brown
isabella brown smith
people named isabella chocolate-brown who live in seattle washington

You can further refine your searches by knowing how to find old school friends on Facebook or looking people up based on their location. For instance, you find erstwhile classmates on Facebook by following the procedure higher up, then clicking on "Cull a School" under "Education" from the column on the left side of the folio that's titled "Filter Results." Simply type in your former school name and select it in the list that appears to run into if anyone with your friend's name shows up. Similarly, you search for someone on Facebook by location by clicking on "Cull a Metropolis" nether "City" in the "Filter Results" cavalcade.

Frequently, information technology'due south difficult to know whether any of the people who show up in Facebook'south results actually match the person yous're seeking. After all, many people don't use photos of themselves in their profiles, and they may purposefully keep their locations, alma maters, employers, friend lists, and other personal data private (i.eastward., just viewable past their Facebook friends). In that situation, you search for a friend on Facebook by using what you know about his or her family unit members or known associates.

If you lot've already done a lot of research through search engines, then information technology'southward highly probable you've obtained the names of people who may have shut ties to your old friend. That means you lot tin can perform Facebook searches on each of those people. And if you're lucky, some of them will have public friend lists that yous can scan. You may discover that at least 1 of them is friends on Facebook with someone who has your onetime friend's name. If and then, y'all've probably found the person you've been hoping to go far touch with.

Thanks to the platform'due south widespread popularity, finding onetime friends on Facebook is becoming more and more mutual for those who know how to use it. Simply a lot of people still aren't on Facebook. Some people only prefer to go on a depression profile online or savor using other social media platforms instead. And so it may be worth joining a few additional social networking sites.

Although they are much less popular—specially amid older adults—it's a good idea to bank check out LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Each of those sites offers its own search tool that can enable yous to find users with your sometime friend's proper noun.

Take Advantage of Online Directories and Information Aggregators

These types of websites collect public information from all around the Web, and yous'll beginning running across them as before long as you apply a search engine to find your friend. In fact, incredibly useful information from them is oftentimes included directly in Google'due south search results. But if you click through to one of these websites, be aware of their selling tactics.

Many of them will encourage y'all to take some kind of action that yous probably don't need to do at this stage, such as sign up, go a fellow member, pay for a subscription, or gild a comprehensive report. Some of them even brand not-member searches on their sites painfully slow so that you'll give in and brand a purchase.

At some signal, it may be worth paying one of these sites for extra information. However, y'all can often use them to find people online (by name) for gratis. Regardless of whether you search for someone directly on one of these websites or click through to them from Google results, yous'll by and large be presented with a long list of people who accept the same name (or a very like proper noun) as the person you lot're looking for. The lists as well commonly include the approximate ages of each person, past and potentially current locations, possible relatives, and aliases.

That's a wealth of information—all usually available for complimentary. So if you know how onetime your friend would be, you lot tin greatly narrow down these lists, especially since you will also know at to the lowest degree one place that he or she has lived before. And if y'all know the names of any of his or her relatives, it's even easier to pinpoint the person you're seeking.

Just keep in mind that, with this type of online people search, the data may not always exist accurate or up to date. And so it's a proficient thought to do a lot of cross-referencing on different websites to encounter what information consistently shows up. Plus, different sites often provide different $.25 of data that you can piece together into a more than complete profile without having to pay for anything.

Of course, paying for a detailed written report on someone may provide you with data that would be difficult to get through other methods, such every bit current contact info. And since these types of websites aggregate personal information from a wide variety of public sources, they offer a fast and user-friendly way to get that info. Many sites fifty-fifty make information technology possible to detect profiles by email address or phone number, which can exist useful if you tin't call back a person'due south total name and but have an old slice of contact information to go on.

Again, not all online information aggregators offering exactly the same information, but many of them can provide you with personal details like:

Names of possible relatives
Possible aliases
Phone numbers
Dwelling house addresses
E-mail addresses
Social networking accounts
Online posts such as reviews, comments, and blog entries
Court records
Criminal records
Existent estate listings
Voter registration records
Marriage records

If y'all don't accept much success using 1 website, you lot can always effort some other…and another. Subsequently all, there are many online directories and information aggregators to choose from. Just be mindful of the fact that some of these websites may not follow customer-friendly billing practices. If you sign upward for a trial subscription, be sure to cancel your business relationship earlier the trial menstruation expires. Hither are some examples of websites in this category:

Whitepages
US Search
PeopleFinders
Intelius
BeenVerified
TruthFinder
PrivateEye
Spokeo
ZabaSearch
Radaris
PeekYou
Find People Search
CheckThem
Instant Checkmate
Verispy

Join Alumni Associations and Explore Affinity Websites

A lot of people are able to notice former classmates past becoming members of alumni websites and associations. This method is particularly useful if yous want to reconnect with sometime schoolhouse friends only tin can't quite remember their names. That's because y'all may exist able to scan erstwhile class photos and match names to faces. It's usually best to showtime past finding your former school'south alumni website.

For case, with this method, yous notice a loftier school friend by first searching on Google with the proper name of your high school in quotes followed past the word "alumni" and the school's location (e.m., "rangeview high school" alumni aurora colorado). If your alma mater has its ain official alumni association, it should announced within the first page or two of search results. Many schools also maintain Facebook pages for alumni groups.

Once you discover the alumni clan for your sometime high school, college, or university, yous just need to annals for free as a new member in social club to gain access to class directories, photos, reunion announcements, and information about other members. If y'all're lucky, the sometime classmates you want to observe will also be members, enabling y'all to go far touch with them through email or the alumni clan'south messaging system.

And then your school's alumni association may offering a free website to observe someone you used to get to class with. But you may too run into commercial websites that say they help connect former classmates with each other. Some websites even assistance sometime armed services members reconnect.

However, on most commercial websites, you'll demand to pay for a membership in guild to see photos, look at profiles, or message people. And sites of this type tend to have poor reputations when it comes to customer billing and email marketing. Some of them fifty-fifty operate equally scams, pretending to be official alumni associations. (Ever look for disclaimers in tiny print.)

So you may only desire to pay for a membership on a commercial site as a very last resort if other search methods don't prove fruitful. Generally speaking, these kinds of sites are best avoided. But one example of an affinity website with a decent reputation is Alumni.Net.

Use Your Library Carte to Access ReferenceUSA

Do you have a expert public library in your surface area? If and then, make a phone call to observe out if information technology offers people the power to utilize ReferenceUSA, which provides some of the most current information virtually people you tin can observe. If your library subscribes to this service, you can access it with your library menu. In fact, many libraries across the U.Southward. will permit y'all access ReferenceUSA on their own websites, or you may be able to visit your library in person and use i of its computers to access the service.

Search Government Records

These days, you can often access official court, marriage, voter registration, and other public records online for free. That ways, if you're willing to do a little digging yourself, yous may non take to pay any information aggregators like those listed in step five above. To find official country or county websites with the information you lot want, simply do a search in Google that includes the type of records you're seeking followed past the state and/or county proper name. Here are some example searches:

"courtroom records" king county washington
"spousal relationship records" jefferson canton colorado

Non all counties and states offer online access to records, then you may have to make the try to request public records in person. You'll but need to visit the correct offices for the specific types of records you lot're after. For case, if you want to access marriage records in person, yous'll probably have to visit the county clerk's role or vital records department for the region where you think your old friend was married.

Reach Out to People Who May Take Useful Information

Accept you kept in affect with anybody else who knew your old friend? Yous may be surprised past what other people call up. Yous may even get lucky and discover that someone else has really remained in contact with the very person you've been hoping to detect. Plus, while conducting your search, you'll likely assemble a good list of your long-lost friend's potential relatives, friends, coworkers, and other associates. If yous notice their contact information, why not reach out to some of them and see if they can help y'all?

When budgeted someone with your request, yous can say something like, "I'm looking for my friend who I haven't seen for years and years. I was wondering what you might know or remember about them. Any data will help and be greatly appreciated." If the person is local, offering to buy lunch or share a chat over coffee. Explicate how you knew your one-time friend and what your intentions are in trying to make it touch with him or her.

Make Yourself Easy to Find

Have you lot ever searched for yourself on Google to see what comes upward? If you have, you're non lone. Many people are curious to know what others may be proverb almost them online. You can take advantage of that marvel by starting a blog or website of your ain and writing a little nigh the old friends you desire to find. It's a creative, albeit indirect approach to finding people online that tin sometimes pay off.

Consider getting a personal domain proper noun for your web log or website that includes your first and last names (e.grand., www.jane-doe.com). So, when posting virtually your old friends, include their full names, information about how you lot know them, the reasons why you lot want to reconnect, and a link to a contact course for getting in touch with you through email. You tin mention things like schools you lot attended together, mutual friends, and places you lot've both lived. Merely avoid mentioning very personal information such equally specific addresses, birthdays, or other things that should remain private. And definitely don't write annihilation that could be remotely embarrassing to your old friends or those who know them.

Consider the Possibility That Your Old Friend Has Passed Abroad

If you've tried all of the methods to a higher place and all the same tin't discover old friends—online or off—information technology might be because they're deceased. Sometimes, people pass away without leaving much of a public trace behind them. And friends and relatives of deceased individuals are sometimes reluctant to talk about their loved ones with those they don't know well. So you may need to do a piddling more earthworks to discover out whether an old friend has died.

In add-on to visiting the department of vital records in the state where y'all recall your friend might have passed away, you can search various websites that may have the information you need. For example, search for your friend's name on obituary, genealogical, archive, and related websites such as:

Legacy.com
Tributes.com
Detect A Grave
BillionGraves
FamilySearch
Ancestry
NewspaperArchive
Archives

Hire a Individual Investigator

Past now, yous may be wondering, "How can I notice an erstwhile friend without doing so much of this work myself?" Here'south the answer: Hire someone to search for you—someone who specializes in exactly this sort of thing. In other words, hire a private investigator. Depending on where you lot alive, who you hire, and how difficult the search turns out to be, information technology may toll you as little as around $200 or upwards to $1,000 or more. But it may be money well spent if 1) you've done your own search already and didn't find your old friend or ii) you don't have the time or inclination to conduct your own detailed search using the methods outlined higher up.

Likewise, licensed private investigators often have access to information databases that aren't publicly available. And their search techniques are probably more sophisticated than what you tin can do yourself. Before hiring a private investigator, always make sure that his or her professional license is valid (if a license is required in your land). And don't hand over any coin until you have a signed contract that outlines the terms and cost of the investigation. Many individual investigators advertise their services in local media, but you can also find them through a referral website like PInow.com.

Get in Touch With Your Quondam Friend (If Your Search Is Successful)

When you finally discover where old friends alive and know how to contact them, it's a cute feeling. Only instead of rushing to become in touch right away, it can be helpful to pause and reflect on what your next goals should be. Congratulate yourself on a successful search. Gloat the achievement. Then get serious almost your intentions, keeping in heed that your long-lost friend may not be in the same mental or emotional space every bit yous.

Shift your thinking to look at things from the betoken of view of your old friend. Depending on why you two lost touch, he or she may not take expected to ever hear from you again. And a whole lot could have happened over the years to change his or her personality or outlook on diverse things. And then it's wise to approach your new interactions with some caution and respect for any doubt, defoliation, or difficult feelings that he or she may experience.

When yous do actually contact your old friend for the first fourth dimension in many years, remind him or her about how you know each other. Share some of your fondest memories and a petty bit about what'due south happened in your own life since you lot two lost touch. But besides be attuned to whatsoever signs of reluctance or discomfort. Attempt to allow your friend atomic number 82 the conversation, even if he or she wants to go along it short. Re-establishing old friendships can accept time, and in some cases, information technology doesn't happen at all. Of grade, things can and do besides happen in the opposite mode: Mayhap information technology will exist a wonderful reunion, every bit if you 2 never lost impact. Be prepared for each of those possibilities.

Keep Making New Friends (Hither's How)

When you're eager for more interpersonal connectedness, looking for onetime friends seems like a natural place to start. Indeed, reconnecting with long-lost friends can exist a practiced way to add together more than joy to your life. But don't overlook the value of building entirely new friendships, something that is frequently easier to exercise than trying to find old friends and revive dormant relationships.

Likewise, even if you restore old friendships, it's ever wise to add together new friends in order to maintain your social well-being. ScienceDaily says that, co-ordinate to a report in Personal Relationships, friendships accept more health- and happiness-related benefits than family relationships as people get older. And having friends becomes more important the older you get. So why not try to create some completely new friendships? Here are some tips to become you started:

Ultimately, whether you find old friends or make new ones, the rewards are often proportional to the corporeality of attention you dedicate to those relationships. Always remember that you deserve the joy and sense of meaning and connection that friendships offer. Never hesitate to elevate your social well-existence by seeking out friends, wherever they may be.