How do I find someone's middle name?

April 11, 2005 10:50 PM

What publically available or easily obtainable records would contain someone's full middle name?

Someone I know will not tell us his middle name, making a mystery of the middle initial "D". He is from PA, I believe born and raised there, and currently studying in NYC. I can easily get simple information that is openly available, along the lines of what is on a license or what I can ask without raising suspicion (considering that he will have some idea we are trying to find his middle name.) I looked at PA Birth Certificates but I would have to commit too much fraud to do that.

I also have someone talking to mutual PA acquaintances, but I don't know if that will pan out or if he was already doing the secret middle name thing in PA, so I want to explore more avenues.

posted by TheOnlyCoolTim to law & government (9 comments total)

The (online) student directory of wherever he's studying is a good place to start.
posted by copperbleu at 11:25 PM on April 11, 2005

Thanks, but, there isn't one except for Facebook, where he didn't put a middle name.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 11:52 PM on April 11, 2005

I don't know how things are done in PA, but when I had to do a bit of the old stalking, I found that while birth certificates took a few hoops to get, birth records were on microfiche at the local library, available for anyone to view as a matter of public record. Failing that, and also at the library, if you know the birthday and place of birth, you could go through the births section of the newspapers in the archives.
posted by -harlequin- at 2:30 AM on April 12, 2005

This was easier in the days before cellphones. One just had to wait for a parent/grandparent to call.

I suggest when you find out what it is that you have fun with it.
posted by rudyfink at 3:50 AM on April 12, 2005

Often, local newspapers print class rosters of graduating high school students, with full formal names. A Nexis search for First w/2 Last in PA papers might could turn it up.
posted by piro at 6:13 AM on April 12, 2005

You could call his high school and pretend you're verifying something for job hiring purposes...

"Hi I'm calling from ___ Incorporated. We're interested in hiring ___ but need to verify some of his records. Can you help me with this?"

"Okay, to eliminate any confusion, can you verify his middle name, beginning with a D? Great, thanks. <meaningless chitchat question about his records>"
posted by odinsdream at 6:32 AM on April 12, 2005

E-mail me, and I can possibly tell you what it is.
posted by dios at 7:35 AM on April 12, 2005

Baptism certificates, church registries. If the person is associated with it. Asking parents.
posted by furtive at 11:36 AM on April 12, 2005

how about doing this google search:
firstname * lastname
posted by michaelkuznet at 2:47 PM on April 12, 2005