You are wrong to think that it is impossible to find a person with only his first name on Facebook.

Whatever your intentions, whether it’s finding a long-lost friend from school or stalking the person you just met at work, you can search for information about them on Facebook itself without knowing their full name.

Facebook allows everyone to connect with friends, family and acquaintances. It is the largest social media platform with the most users, so the chances of finding what you are looking for are higher there.

You can find anyone on earth by their name on Facebook. But the question is what to do when you don’t know their full name.

Quick answer: If you only know a person’s first name, you can always find them by performing an advanced search on Facebook. You can search for any user by name and narrow the search by filtering it by location, education, work, groups, and mutual friends. Likewise, if they are linked to Facebook, you can find them using their phone number and email address.

So let’s see how to find a user using Facebook’s advanced search tools if you don’t know their full name.

Find someone on Facebook

With almost 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook is undoubtedly the largest social media platform. Facebook has everyone you can think of – from your grandparents to your young nephews and nieces.

Unlike many other social media platforms, Facebook offers content for every generation, with a primary focus on millennials and Gen Z.

As it has billions of users, the chances of finding the people you want to follow are higher.

Facebook will undoubtedly be your first stop to get information about anyone, whether it’s an old classmate, a family member, the person you just met at work or of employees, business partners, potential buyers and sellers.

Today, it is easier to find someone by simply typing their full name into the Facebook search bar, which will show many profiles with that name.

Things get a little complicated when you can’t remember the full name. If you type only his first name, Facebook will find the profiles of hundreds of thousands of people.

Now, what to do in this situation?

Luckily for you, Facebook allows users to fill in a lot of information about themselves, such as their city, place of work, school, etc.

You can use this information to find the person using an advanced search on Facebook.

But how exactly? For this, you need to read the following part carefully.

How to find someone with Facebook’s advanced search?

You can use Facebook’s advanced search to find any user, even if you only know their first name.

You can refine your results by applying other filters to obtain more precise results.

For example, thousands of Emma profiles will appear if you know someone named Emma and you search for them on Facebook without entering their last name. This is because Emma is a fairly common name.

Now, if you use Facebook’s advanced search, using various filters, you can refine your search, and more profiles matching your defined description will appear to simplify your search process.

Any information you know about Emma, such as where she lives, education, school, work, or public groups she follows, can help filter her profile from others.

How to perform an advanced search on Facebook on a PC?

To perform an advanced search on Facebook using your PC, follow these steps:

  1. Access Facebook on your favorite web browser.
  2. Click on the search field in the upper left corner.
  3. Enter the name of the person you want to find and press “Enter”.
  4. Select “People” in the left navigation.

This will unlock additional filters in this category to make the search more thorough. These filters are:

  • City – if the person has defined their city of residence, this filter will help you find them using location information.
  • Education – if you know their school/university, you can use this filter to find out.
  • Work – this filter allows you to search for the person based on their place of work (if specified).
  • Friends of friends – this filter displays all profiles that have common friends with you.

Facebook will display the results taking into account your selections.

You can also perform an advanced search for specific posts, photos, videos, pages, places, groups, events and marketplaces.

Note: The “Friends of Friends” filter only works if your mutual friend has not kept their friends list private. However, you can still search for them in Facebook’s friend suggestions.

How to perform an advanced search on the Facebook mobile application?

You can also perform this advanced search on the Facebook mobile application. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Facebook application on your mobile device.
  2. Tap the search icon in the upper right corner.
  3. Enter the first name of the person you want to find and press the search button.
  4. Press the “People” tab at the top of the page.
  5. To further refine the search result, tap on the filter icon next to the search bar.
  6. Choose a filter from the additional options for best results.

Last resorts

You can also find the person by their phone number on Facebook, only if they have linked their phone number.

Similarly, you can also find people if you know their email address. In addition, you can also search for people in public groups. To do this, you must select the “Group” filter.

You can use a search engine if you cannot find the person on Facebook.

If you have his photo, you can also use Google Images. This Google reverse image search can help you find the person.

You can also use LinkedIn if you know his place of work. You will most likely find them in your second or third degree connections.

Your last resort would be to use third-party tools to find the person.

Closing remarks

“When there is a will, there is a way”. This quote applies perfectly to you and your willingness to know how far you can go to find someone.

Since Facebook is the oldest and largest platform, it is understandable that you start your search here. Facebook offers advanced search tools to help you find someone, even if you don’t know their full name.

Now, thanks to Facebook’s advanced search filters, you can find someone based on their location, their level of education and even their place of work.