How To Find A Long Lost Friend

Want to locate of import people from your past that you've lost touch with? You definitely can. Looking for old friends may seem like a challenge, merely finding them is probably easier than you call up. From old classmates to onetime coworkers to cherished confidantes, it'south possible to discover people online—often for gratuitous. By using mod search methods, yous tin plow a lost friendship into a renewed connection that adds actress joy and meaning to your life.

That's why it's often worth the endeavor to try to locate old friends. Besides, the resources that are available today make it very probable that your search volition be successful. You just need to learn how to observe a lost friend with the tool that is most widely used for that purpose—the Internet.

At the most basic level, y'all find an old friend on the Internet past using search engines like Google, social networking platforms like Facebook, personal information aggregators like TruthFinder, alumni websites, and other online resources. If the Internet doesn't turn anything up, y'all tin detect a long-lost friend past hiring a private investigator (or using traditional investigative methods yourself).

Keep in mind that information technology'southward perfectly normal for people to lose touch with each other as the years go by. In fact, the number of friends in a person's life tends to top at nigh the age of 25, according to inquiry in Majestic Social club Open Science. Afterwards that, friendships oft drop off equally people move away, go married, have children, and focus on their careers. So a lot of adults maintain fewer friendships than they did when they were younger because they simply take less fourth dimension and energy to nurture them. Merely equally an older developed, y'all may have more fourth dimension to restore important friendships and even cultivate new ones, particularly if you're retired.

When you notice long-lost friends, the good feeling is oft difficult to describe. And if you're able to take hold of up and renew those friendships, information technology feels fifty-fifty improve. Of course, not anybody wants to be institute. An sometime friend may not be interested in reconnecting. But you'll never know unless you endeavor.

In this article, you lot'll discover plenty of practical tips about how to runway someone downward past name or past other types of information. You'll too larn how to make completely new friends. Here's the best process to follow:

Get Organized

Before you brainstorm your search for one-time friends, it's a skilful idea to plan how you will organize and keep runway of the data you gather. Some people are super easy to notice. But the more than challenging information technology becomes to find old friends, the more $.25 and pieces of data you'll accept to sift through. Just put, you find an quondam friend by being methodical and disciplined in your organizational habits.

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

Whichever method you choose, start thinking alee about the types of data you may find. That mode, you can create divide categories for them and you'll have an easier time finding specific details as your search goes on. Having carve up categories volition also make information technology easier to quickly organize information every bit you go, identify alien info, compare sources, and move forrad in your search without repeating something you've already done.

So, for example, if yous want to organize everything in physical form, consider having separate folders and/or notebooks for information gathered from each type of resource outlined in the balance of this commodity. You can also divide things up by information related to your quondam friend'southward locations, employers, potential contact information, and known (and possible) relatives and assembly. If you choose to organize information digitally, consider using a pop app similar Evernote.

Collect Everything You lot Have or Know About Your Old Friend

This pace is closely linked to the previous one. Essentially, you need to assemble and organize all of the information you already have. You only can't effigy out how to discover a long-lost friend unless you make notes nearly what you lot call up or know to be true. After all, in lodge to find someone online (or even through more traditional methods), you always have to start with at least one solid piece of data. It's like solving a puzzle: The more pieces you accept in place already, the easier information technology is to figure out the blank areas.

Try to remember and collect as many personal details every bit y'all tin about your sometime buddy or gal pal. And if you accept current contact data for other people who knew your friend, get in touch with them and inquire what they know or remember. For example, it's practiced to have information such equally your long-lost friend's:

Full name (or every bit close to this equally possible)
Nicknames
Nativity date or approximate age
Previous locations
Past addresses and/or telephone numbers
Erstwhile schools
Previous employers
Potential marital status
Possible friends, family members, and associates
Hobbies and other personal interests
Professional ambitions

Photos tin can also be useful since they may spark your memory or help other people retrieve. Of course, it'due south unlikely you'll have all of that information. Just whatever you exercise happen to know is what you can start building your search around.

Use Online Search Engines to Gather More Leads and Information

Knowing how to detect someone for costless on the Cyberspace is a great skill to have. It's a particularly useful skill for finding old friends. And it all starts with search engines. You probably already know most Google, the world's most popular search engine. But did you know that you can sometimes go dissimilar results by using less-popular search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo?

Start with Google. And so, if you lot don't detect your quondam friend or you lot feel you've washed equally much searching as you lot can on Google, try doing the same searches on at to the lowest degree ii other search engines. That mode, yous'll maximize your chances of finding information that leads to your one-time friend.

Begin by searching for the name of your long-lost friend. For instance, let's say yous knew your friend every bit Isabella Smith. Simply type that name into the search bar and striking return. If your friend has a very common name, you lot'll get a lot of results for people who aren't the person you lot're looking for. Simply if your friend has an unusual name, you may get lucky and encounter relevant results right away.

In whatever case, browse through at least the starting time 5 pages of results, carefully reading all the text to encounter if anything seems to apply to your old friend. If any of the results look promising, right-click on those links and open the linked spider web pages into new browser windows or tabs. (Always work this way instead of only clicking on links and striking the dorsum button. That way, you tin can more hands render to where you were and not have to worry about pages reloading or trying to find your place again. Just exist careful not to accidentally close an unabridged browser window of open tabs.)

To go better results, effort many additional searches that include extra $.25 of information based on what you already know about your quondam friend. If you know his or her first and last name, do some searches with the full proper name in quotation marks followed past extra $.25 of info. Or if yous also know his or her middle proper name, centre initial, or nickname, try including those as well. For example, hither are some case searches you would attempt if you knew that your friend Isabella used to alive in Denver, wanted to pursue a career in art, attended the Academy of Colorado, has a middle name starting with D, and may get by a nickname similar 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 dissimilar combinations. If y'all call up your old friend might accept married someone, include terms like "wedding" or "married" in your searches in case any marriage announcements have been archived online that may provide yous with a past or electric current married proper name.

Of course, you lot may not actually remember your long-lost friend's original last proper name. In that instance, it's useful to know how to discover someone online with just a first proper name. When using a search engine, the best method is usually to blazon in all the information you know. So, for example, your searches might look like this:

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

In this example, it would also be worth doing some searches that include the discussion "designer." (People who are artistic don't ever pursue careers in the fine arts. Often, they pursue careers in more than commercial fields that still utilize their talents. So it's smart to call up more than broadly and practice some searches based on educated guesses about what your friend may take get.)

Also, don't forget to await at the image results for each search in Google. You may become lucky and spot a picture of your erstwhile friend that links to a website with information you didn't accept earlier. Y'all can also employ a photograph you already have of your friend and perform a contrary image search on Google or TinEye. That way, you can find whatever places on the Web that include that particular prototype or possibly even other images that are very similar to it.

As you collect useful data, be sure to organize it by putting it under the appropriate category and making note of exactly where it came from. Re-create the link to the exact Spider web page if you can. In some cases, the information included in a Google search result may exist difficult to find on the actual source website. In that situation, simply make notation of the specific data and the website it should exist on so that you can take a more thorough expect at it later.

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

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

Every bit you acquire more clues, keep repeating the process. Some of the data you find may not be accurate, or it may apply to a different person than the one you lot're looking for. And then you will probably follow some clues that lead to dead ends. That's OK; information technology's all part of the procedure. Any clues that yous tin can eliminate will ultimately help you hone in on the ones that are accurate and useful.

And don't overlook this powerful tip: Do the aforementioned kinds of searches for anyone who continues to come as a possible relative or associate of your old friend. Note their locations and the people associated with them. It'south oftentimes the indirect path that finally leads to the person y'all want to find.

Search Facebook and Other Social Networking Websites

Did you know that 68 percent of American adults apply Facebook? It's true. Even a lot of older adults utilise the globe's most popular social networking platform. In fact, 65 percent of U.S. residents between the ages of 50 and 64—and about 41 percent of seniors over age 65—are on Facebook, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. And then it'southward definitely possible to discover people on Facebook if you lot have an account on the platform (or know someone who does). There's no guarantee that you'll notice your sometime friend this way, only the odds are pretty skilful that you lot'll at least glean some new data.

Yous search for someone on Facebook by logging into your account and using the search bar at the top of the folio. To brainstorm with, yous can simply blazon in your old friend'due south name and hit enter to see who comes up. Then, right under the search bar, click on "People." That way, you can browse the unabridged listing of people who take your friend's name (or a similar proper noun). Unless the proper name is fairly uncommon, you'll likely get many results.

If you recognize your friend in any of the photos, then—congratulations—you lot've probably found him or her. If not, click on each of the individual results to cheque out the personal profiles and run into whether anyone seems to fit your friend's description. While doing that, make sure y'all click the "Nigh" tab underneath the profile photo, since that's where you'll normally discover the best identifying information (as long as the person'southward profile isn't individual). Failing that, try some additional searches. For example, your searches might look like the post-obit. (Think to include the person's maiden proper name in some of them, if applicable):

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

Y'all tin further refine your searches by knowing how to observe sometime school friends on Facebook or looking people upwardly based on their location. For instance, you find quondam classmates on Facebook by following the process above, then clicking on "Choose a School" under "Educational activity" from the column on the left side of the page that's titled "Filter Results." Only blazon in your erstwhile school proper name and select it in the list that appears to encounter if anyone with your friend's proper noun shows upwards. Similarly, you search for someone on Facebook by location by clicking on "Choose a City" under "Urban center" in the "Filter Results" column.

Often, it's difficult to know whether any of the people who evidence up in Facebook's results actually match the person you're seeking. After all, many people don't employ photos of themselves in their profiles, and they may purposefully keep their locations, alma maters, employers, friend lists, and other personal information private (i.eastward., only viewable past their Facebook friends). In that state of affairs, you search for a friend on Facebook by using what you know about his or her family members or known assembly.

If you've already washed a lot of research through search engines, then information technology's highly likely you've obtained the names of people who may take close ties to your old friend. That ways you tin can perform Facebook searches on each of those people. And if you're lucky, some of them will have public friend lists that you can browse. You may discover that at least i of them is friends on Facebook with someone who has your old friend'southward name. If then, you've probably constitute the person you've been hoping to get in touch on with.

Cheers to the platform's widespread popularity, finding old friends on Facebook is becoming more and more common for those who know how to utilize information technology. But a lot of people nonetheless aren't on Facebook. Some people simply prefer to keep a low contour online or enjoy using other social media platforms instead. So information technology may be worth joining a few additional social networking sites.

Although they are much less popular—particularly among older adults—it'south a good idea to check out LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Each of those sites offers its ain search tool that can enable you to find users with your old friend's name.

Have Advantage of Online Directories and Information Aggregators

These types of websites collect public information from all around the Web, and y'all'll outset running across them as shortly as you use a search engine to find your friend. In fact, incredibly useful information from them is often included directly in Google's search results. Merely if you lot click through to 1 of these websites, be enlightened of their selling tactics.

Many of them will encourage you to take some kind of activeness that you probably don't need to practice at this stage, such every bit sign upwards, get a member, pay for a subscription, or society a comprehensive report. Some of them even brand non-member searches on their sites painfully slow and so that you'll give in and make a purchase.

At some point, it may be worth paying ane of these sites for extra data. However, you can oft use them to detect people online (by name) for free. Regardless of whether you search for someone directly on i of these websites or click through to them from Google results, yous'll more often than not be presented with a long list of people who accept the aforementioned proper noun (or a very similar proper noun) as the person you're looking for. The lists also usually include the approximate ages of each person, past and potentially electric current locations, possible relatives, and aliases.

That'southward a wealth of information—all usually available for free. Then if y'all know how quondam your friend would be, you can greatly narrow downward these lists, especially since you will too know at least 1 place that he or she has lived earlier. And if you know the names of whatever of his or her relatives, it's fifty-fifty easier to pinpoint the person you're seeking.

Just keep in mind that, with this blazon of online people search, the information may not always be accurate or up to date. So it's a adept idea to do a lot of cross-referencing on dissimilar websites to encounter what information consistently shows upward. Plus, dissimilar sites often provide different $.25 of data that y'all can piece together into a more than consummate profile without having to pay for annihilation.

Of course, paying for a detailed written report on someone may provide you with information that would be difficult to get through other methods, such every bit electric current contact info. And since these types of websites aggregate personal information from a broad variety of public sources, they offer a fast and convenient style to go that info. Many sites even go far possible to find profiles by e-mail address or phone number, which can exist useful if yous can't remember a person's full name and merely take an former piece of contact data to continue.

Again, non all online information aggregators offering exactly the same data, but many of them tin can provide you with personal details similar:

Names of possible relatives
Possible aliases
Phone numbers
Home addresses
Electronic mail addresses
Social networking accounts
Online posts such as reviews, comments, and blog entries
Court records
Criminal records
Real manor listings
Voter registration records
Union records

If you don't have much success using one website, you can always endeavour another…and another. After all, there are many online directories and data aggregators to choose from. But 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 abolish your account before the trial menstruation expires. Here are some examples of websites in this category:

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

Join Alumni Associations and Explore Affinity Websites

A lot of people are able to find former classmates by condign members of alumni websites and associations. This method is specially useful if you want to reconnect with onetime schoolhouse friends simply tin't quite remember their names. That's considering you may be able to browse quondam class photos and match names to faces. It'southward usually best to start by finding your onetime school'southward alumni website.

For case, with this method, you notice a high school friend by start searching on Google with the name of your high schoolhouse in quotes followed by the give-and-take "alumni" and the school's location (e.g., "rangeview high school" alumni aurora colorado). If your alma mater has its own official alumni association, it should appear within the first page or two of search results. Many schools also maintain Facebook pages for alumni groups.

In one case you notice the alumni association for your former loftier schoolhouse, higher, or academy, yous merely need to register for free as a new member in gild to gain access to class directories, photos, reunion announcements, and information nigh other members. If you're lucky, the one-time classmates you desire to notice will as well be members, enabling you to go in touch with them through email or the alumni association'south messaging system.

So your school's alumni clan may offer a free website to find someone you used to go to class with. But you may likewise run into commercial websites that say they help connect sometime classmates with each other. Some websites even assist former war machine members reconnect.

However, on most commercial websites, yous'll demand to pay for a membership in gild to see photos, expect at profiles, or message people. And sites of this type tend to have poor reputations when information technology comes to customer billing and email marketing. Some of them even operate as scams, pretending to be official alumni associations. (Always expect for disclaimers in tiny print.)

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

Employ Your Library Card to Access ReferenceUSA

Do you have a good public library in your surface area? If then, brand a telephone call to find out if it offers people the power to use ReferenceUSA, which provides some of the about electric current information about people you can notice. If your library subscribes to this service, you can admission it with your library card. In fact, many libraries beyond the U.Due south. volition allow you lot access ReferenceUSA on their ain websites, or you may be able to visit your library in person and use one of its computers to access the service.

Search Government Records

These days, you can oft access official court, marriage, voter registration, and other public records online for complimentary. That means, if you're willing to practice a footling excavation yourself, you lot may non have to pay any information aggregators like those listed in step v higher up. To find official country or county websites with the information you want, just do a search in Google that includes the type of records you're seeking followed by the state and/or canton name. Hither are some case searches:

"courtroom records" king county washington
"marriage records" jefferson county colorado

Not all counties and states offer online access to records, so yous may have to make the effort to request public records in person. You'll just need to visit the right offices for the specific types of records you're after. For instance, if you want to access marriage records in person, you'll probably have to visit the county clerk'south office or vital records section for the region where you lot think your former friend was married.

Reach Out to People Who May Have Useful Information

Have you kept in impact with anybody else who knew your old friend? You may exist surprised past what other people remember. Yous may fifty-fifty get lucky and find that someone else has actually remained in contact with the very person you've been hoping to find. Plus, while conducting your search, you'll likely gather a good listing of your long-lost friend's potential relatives, friends, coworkers, and other associates. If yous observe their contact information, why non attain out to some of them and see if they can aid you?

When approaching someone with your request, you lot tin say something similar, "I'chiliad looking for my friend who I haven't seen for years and years. I was wondering what you might know or remember about them. Whatever information will assistance and exist greatly appreciated." If the person is local, offer to purchase luncheon or share a chat over coffee. Explain how yous knew your old friend and what your intentions are in trying to get in bear on with him or her.

Brand Yourself Piece of cake to Observe

Have yous ever searched for yourself on Google to see what comes up? If you lot have, you're non lonely. Many people are curious to know what others may be proverb about them online. You can take reward of that curiosity by starting a blog or website of your ain and writing a little nigh the old friends you want to find. Information technology'due south a artistic, admitting indirect arroyo to finding people online that can sometimes pay off.

Consider getting a personal domain name for your web log or website that includes your first and last names (e.g., www.jane-doe.com). Then, when posting virtually your former friends, include their full names, data about how y'all know them, the reasons why you desire to reconnect, and a link to a contact form for getting in affect with y'all through email. You tin mention things like schools you attended together, mutual friends, and places you've both lived. But avert mentioning very personal data such every bit specific addresses, birthdays, or other things that should remain private. And definitely don't write anything 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 above and all the same can't find old friends—online or off—it might be because they're deceased. Sometimes, people laissez passer 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 practice a little more digging to find out whether an old friend has died.

In addition to visiting the department of vital records in the land where you recollect your friend might accept passed away, you can search various websites that may accept the information you lot need. For example, search for your friend's name on obituary, genealogical, archive, and related websites such as:

Legacy.com
Tributes.com
Find A Grave
BillionGraves
FamilySearch
Ancestry
NewspaperArchive
Athenaeum

Hire a Private Investigator

By now, you lot may be wondering, "How can I notice an old friend without doing so much of this work myself?" Here's the answer: Hire someone to search for yous—someone who specializes in exactly this sort of thing. In other words, hire a private investigator. Depending on where you live, who y'all hire, and how difficult the search turns out to be, it may cost you as petty as around $200 or up to $1,000 or more. Merely it may be money well spent if 1) you've washed your own search already and didn't find your old friend or two) you don't have the time or inclination to conduct your own detailed search using the methods outlined above.

Too, licensed private investigators frequently have access to information databases that aren't publicly bachelor. And their search techniques are probably more than sophisticated than what you can do yourself. Before hiring a private investigator, e'er brand sure that his or her professional license is valid (if a license is required in your state). And don't hand over any coin until you have a signed contract that outlines the terms and toll of the investigation. Many individual investigators annunciate their services in local media, but you lot can too detect them through a referral website similar PInow.com.

Make it Impact With Your One-time Friend (If Your Search Is Successful)

When you finally discover where former friends live and know how to contact them, it's a cute feeling. Just instead of rushing to get in touch correct abroad, it tin be helpful to pause and reflect on what your next goals should exist. Congratulate yourself on a successful search. Celebrate the achievement. Then go serious about your intentions, keeping in mind that your long-lost friend may not be in the same mental or emotional space equally you.

Shift your thinking to wait at things from the point of view of your old friend. Depending on why you two lost touch on, he or she may not have expected to e'er hear from you lot once more. And a whole lot could have happened over the years to change his or her personality or outlook on diverse things. Then it's wise to arroyo your new interactions with some circumspection and respect for any dubiety, confusion, or difficult feelings that he or she may experience.

When yous practise actually contact your old friend for the commencement time in many years, remind him or her about how you know each other. Share some of your fondest memories and a piddling bit about what's happened in your own life since you lot ii lost touch. Merely besides exist attuned to whatever signs of reluctance or discomfort. Endeavor to let your friend lead the conversation, even if he or she wants to keep information technology short. Re-establishing old friendships can take fourth dimension, and in some cases, information technology doesn't happen at all. Of course, things can and practice also happen in the opposite style: Perhaps it will be a wonderful reunion, every bit if you two never lost touch. Be prepared for each of those possibilities.

Keep Making New Friends (Here'southward How)

When you're eager for more interpersonal connectedness, looking for onetime friends seems like a natural place to showtime. Indeed, reconnecting with long-lost friends tin be a good way to add more joy to your life. But don't overlook the value of building entirely new friendships, something that is often easier to do than trying to find former friends and revive fallow relationships.

Too, even if you restore sometime friendships, it'southward always wise to add new friends in order to maintain your social well-being. ScienceDaily says that, according to a study in Personal Relationships, friendships have more than health- and happiness-related benefits than family unit relationships as people get older. And having friends becomes more important the older y'all go. So why not attempt to create some completely new friendships? Here are some tips to get you started:

Ultimately, whether you lot detect former friends or make new ones, the rewards are often proportional to the amount 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 drag your social well-being by seeking out friends, wherever they may exist.