How To Find out Someone’s Birthday

There are a lot of reasons that you might want to find out another person’s birthday without just asking them. Maybe you’re the generous type and want to find out someone’s birthday so you can throw a surprise party, or perhaps you want to sign them up for some dubious products as a prank.

Perhaps you forgot your significant other’s birthday and need to get them a gift or to book a romantic getaway. Or you might simply have forgotten someone’s birthday and want a way to find out without the awkwardness of asking them their birthday directly.

Regardless of the reason, if you need to know their birthday without them finding out about your inquiry, this post has the solution for you. I’ll show you several ways to find out someone’s birthday. What you do with that information is up to you!

Find out someone’s birthday

There are a few sneaky ways to find out someone’s birthday that can get you the information you need without them knowing that you forgot their birthday.

Use social media to find someone’s birthday

Most people are quite open with their personal information and put their birthday right on their Facebook page, so it’s the logical first place to look. Go to the About section of their Facebook profile then look under Overview for their birthday.

Or you could go to Events and then Upcoming Birthdays. If the person has entered their birthday, your search is over. If they didn’t add their birthday to Facebook or if you aren’t able to see that information, try another method.

Checking Snapchat or Instagram are other options for you to check social media. If you scroll through their Instagram profile or Facebook timeline, you may see their past celebrations. Posting pictures with a cake and a happy birthday tiara are pretty good indicators you’ve found the right date.

LinkedIn is another social media site that offers information for someone’s birthdate. Scroll through their profile and posts looking for birthday wishes. If the person who’s a birthday you’re interested in added their information, the site sends a message to every connection notifying them of the birthday.

Beware, if you visit someone’s LinkedIn profile, they will be notified. If this is your last resort, be prepared with an explanation of why you were there.

Phone a friend

If you’re planning a party or want to get a gift in plenty of time, asking a mutual friend should work. Just remember to ask them not to let on that you inquired! So just grab your phone and make that call.

Check their calendar for their birthday

When visiting your friend’s house, go to their kitchen and check out their wall calendar. Many people or their partners or family will circle a date and say ‘name’s big day’ or ‘my birthday’ or something. Just have a good excuse to be in the kitchen at the time! Maybe you’re thirsty for a glass of water and happen to glance at the wall calendar.

This works with digital calendars if you can gain access. Checking Google Calendar or Apple’s version may help you here. Either you could wait for them to leave their phone lying around, or ask them to share their calendar with you.

Do a Google or DuckDuckgo search for their birthday

If your friend has a social media presence or works online, a simple Google or DuckDuckgo search may tell you what you need to know. Type their name and city into Google or another search engine to see what comes up.

Sometimes links to public records come up, other social media accounts, a personal website, or their date of birth is pulled by the search engine from publicly available information.

Records search

Websites such as Zabasearch or your local public records office may have online resources for checking dates of birth. Some limit what data is available online, but Zabasearch is pretty good at finding information about people.

It only has access to public information but is a useful resource to try. These sorts of services often cost money but they will find someone’s birthday if that’s what you’re looking for.

Spark a conversation about famous people

Celebrity culture is all around us so starting a conversation about celebrities should be easy. Talk about any that you both like or admire and then slide the conversation around to their respective ages and birthdays. Then ask the other person if they share a birthday with any celebrities. 20 Questions is a great game to pull this off if you’re looking to remain discreet in your endeavors.

If they say yes, they may tell you the date. If they tell you the celebrity but not the date, you can look it up later.

The idea here is you’re trying to get them to tell you their birthday indirectly. You may think of other creative questions to get someone to indirectly tell you their birthday.

Take them somewhere they will get carded

If you’re in your teens or twenties, going somewhere where you are likely to need an ID like a bar, club, or liquor store is a useful trick. When they get out their driver’s license, comment on the photo or ask if their new license has the same markings as your older one, or compare pictures. The birth date is right there for you to see.

You could do the same for a college ID or passport if you are not old enough to drink or have a driver’s license. While booking a trip may be an expensive way to find out someone’s birthday, you could do the compare photos trick instead.

Background check

If you’re really serious about finding out their birthday, you could run a background check. It costs money and is a little stalker-ish but gets the job done. Just discipline yourself enough to not look at anything else on the report aside from their birthday. You never quite know what skeletons a person has in their closet! But if it’s really important to find their birthday then it may be worth it.

Anyone can lie about their birthdate on Social Media or other platforms. If you need to have that exact information as it is on their Birth Certificate, a background check may be your only option.

If the person is deceased (you’re looking for an ancestor or grandparents’ birthday) you can always try Census records or the Social Security Death Records database. This isn’t a great option if you’re planning a party for someone, but these records also provide birthdates.

If All Else Fails

Lastly, you may want to consider asking your friend what their birthday is. If you have no mutual friends who can tell you, and you can’t find the person’s birthday on social media or their calendar, your last resort is simply to ask the person.

Most people won’t be offended by being asked this question. Of course, if you think they will be, or you don’t want them to know you’re hunting for this information, you’ll have to get creative.