Age is a sensitive topic for many, and while attitudes around speaking about age are relaxing these days, many individuals may still feel uncomfortable when bringing up age during a conversation. If you need to find someone’s age and you don’t want to ask the person directly, our search guide helps you figure out this information subtly, so you can stay informed.
Why Look For Someone’s Age?
There are plenty of reasons as to why you might want to find someone’s age. We give common reasons for finding this information below:
- You met a potential partner on a dating site or in public and want to verify their age before agreeing to meet.
- You want to verify the age of an employer, co-worker, or other acquaintance.
- You aren’t sure how old a distant friend or family member is and want to check without offending them.
- You are interested in learning more about a person and want to research their age out of curiosity.
All of these reasons and more are valid when it comes to searching for someone’s age. Just remember not to use the information you learn as part of any kind of illegal activity, such as stalking or harassment – public information is legal to access unless used in an illegal method.
Is It Rude to Speak About Age?
In polite conversation and scenarios where a more formal environment is found, such as a workplace, many individuals consider it rude to ask about age. Etiquette especially advises against asking a woman, specifically an older woman, about their age, should you risk offending the person you are asking.
Many of these beliefs and etiquette rules still about in today’s society, and while many people have a more relaxed attitude to speaking about age, you should still be cautious in certain situations to avoid accidentally offending someone.
It’s generally considered not rude to speak about age in cases where you are developing a closer relationship with someone, or you believe you are a similar age to the person you are speaking with. Asking older individuals or an individual that you have a more formal relationship with, such as an employer, their age directly may be considered a faux pas and should usually be avoided.
Best Methods to Find Someone’s Age
The following methods can help you find valuable information about someone’s age without you having to ask the person directly.
1. Use Social Media
Social media is one of today’s best tools when it comes to researching information on others. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram encourage users to personalize their profiles and add essential information, such as their birthdays. In fact, Facebook reminds users of others’ birthdays and requires this information as part of the sign-up process.
In most cases, the date of someone’s birthday will be visible when you browse their social media profile, but the year may not be. You might need to dig deeper into posts that the person has made around their birthday to find a general year or range of years that give you an estimate of someone’s age.
2. Speak to Mutual Friends and Family
If the person you are curious about is part of your social circle, you may be able to ask mutual friends or family members about their age. This is a fairly easy way to learn someone’s birthdate information, but it may be the riskiest if you are trying to prevent the person from knowing that you are asking about their age. Only use this method if you are ok with the person potentially finding out that you were asking about them.
3. Check Background Records
Background records are a great way to learn someone’s age and other important personal information such as their current workplace or address history. You can use an online background check tool (our favorite is this one here) by typing the person’s name and location into the search bar; running the search and reviewing the compiled report that is pulled from public records about the person to locate their birthdate and age.
4. Listen for Conversation Clues
When speaking to the person you are curious about, listen closely for conversation clues that might give you a better idea about someone’s age. Topics such as childhood, familiar products, and favorite movies and TV shows are typically very dated to a certain time period. Paying attention to these items in conversation may give you an idea of the age of the person you are speaking with.
5. Search Employment Information
Similar to social media searches, researching employment information using a company website or a platform like LinkedIn is a very simple way to figure out someone’s age. Using this method, you can review the profiles a person creates for themselves on LinkedIn or a profile that a company creates for their employee.
Typically, information about how long the individual has worked for the company, previous employment information, career successes, and education information are all listed in these profiles. You can use this employment and education information to estimate how old someone might be.
Should I Ask Someone’s Age Directly?
As we mentioned above, speaking about age may be considered rude in certain situations. However, if you are developing a closer relationship with a person, you have a more casual relationship with someone, or if you need to know this information, such as in a dating situation, it’s generally acceptable to ask someone what their age is directly.
Figuring Out Important Age Information
Finding out what someone’s age is might seem confusing at first, but this task is easily completed. Use one of the methods in our search guide to find out what someone’s age is and put your curiosity about this piece of personal information to rest.
