how do you find someone from your child hood with only there first name?

Question

i went to a day care center with them for about 8 years but for the life of me cannot remeber there last name what should i do.the day care center has been closed now for about 12 years.

Answer 1

Can you remember the last names of the other kids, call some of them, ask what the last name of your friend was, and take it from there?

Answer 2

If you can remember the full names of any other people at the day-care centre, you could try to find them and see if they remember the full name of your friend. They may remember the full name of other kids and staff members that you can contact to find your friends name.

To find any of these people, and your friend once you have the full name, you might find them via the 'register of voters'.

There are usually local government sites or private phone+address+other info services online that have copies of the electoral register that you can use to search the register and give you a house addess and maybe a phone number.

In the UK, www.192.com can search the Electoral Roll. The register is probably called something else in the US. Just google for whatever the register of voters is called and it usually turns up ads for these services.

Photos are a good memory-jogger. If you have any photos, scan them in and email them to the people you contact.

To try to remember the name yourself, relax, think around the name - did it have 1, 2 or 3 sylables? Did it rhyme with anything? Was it foreign? If your friend was foreign or not, look through lists of common surnames and see if anything leaps out.

Write down on a piece of paper every scrap of info you remember about them. Add to it over several days. Who were their friends. What do you know about their family? Did they belong to any other organisations or schools that might have records?

Answer 3

If you know how old they were and where they went to school you could do some searching there. That could lead you to a last name.