01 · Product name
WhatsMyName
A community list for checking whether a username exists on a site.
Published by Micah Hoffman.
In short
WhatsMyName is a free community dataset, started in 2015 by Micah Hoffman, that records how to check whether a username exists on a site. The list is published on GitHub under CC BY-SA 4.0, and other username tools consume it. A match is a URL to open. It does not prove two accounts belong to one person, and a site that answers every name with a success page still creates a false positive.
Product pricing strategy
02
Free
WhatsMyName is free. You do not buy a seat to use what the project publishes.
Yes. The dataset is on GitHub under CC BY-SA 4.0. There is no paid tier in the project README.
Utility and features
03
WhatsMyName is the dataset, not a hosted search box. Micah Hoffman started it in 2015 because username checkers were producing false positives, and the README still describes it as a community-maintained list of sites. Sherlock, Maigret, and other checkers can point at the same data. When the list changes, those tools change with it.
- A dataset other tools use. The repository holds the site list. Username checkers consume it. You are not buying a search seat.
- What a match is. A site rule said the username appears to exist. Open the URL. A common handle will hit strangers.
- License. The README marks the project CC BY-SA 4.0. Read that license before you republish the list.
Treat a hit as a URL with a date. Open it. Usernames are reused, sites change their profile paths, and a detection rule that always says “found” will lie. The project is the list and the rules. It does not merge identities for you.
- 1
Read the README and take the current wmn-data file from the repository.
- 2
Run it through a checker you already trust, or use a project that says it consumes WhatsMyName.
- 3
Open every URL you intend to cite. Drop pages that error or show a different person.
- 4
Record the date. The site list moves.
Caveats
04
WhatsMyName is a free, community-maintained list of username check URLs. It is not a hosted investigation product. The checks are heuristics maintained by contributors, and they rot.
A name on the list is not a finding. False positives and false negatives are normal, especially on common strings. Sherlock and Maigret are the tools that run checks. Do not cite the raw list as proof an account exists.
Screenshots
05
Potential use cases
06
- You have a handle and you want the community list of sites where that string might be registered. Use WhatsMyName’s dataset, or a tool that consumes it, and treat the output as candidate URLs. Open them. Pivot the same handle to Sherlock or Maigret, which may use this list or their own. Agreement between two tools that share the list is not two sources.
- A brand string needs a squatting pass. Run the name, keep the dated URL list, and discard pages that are not the brand. The output is a queue for a person. The list is only as good as the last time someone updated that site’s check. A broken check looks like a miss or a false hit. Read the page.
- You are comparing two username tools that both claim the WhatsMyName list. Run one handle through both and diff the URLs. The output you want is the difference in their checkers, not a longer identity. If they match exactly, you have learned they share a list, not that the profiles are confirmed.
Hard cases
The case where the first result is easy to over-read.
Two tools, one list, double-counted
The report says Sherlock and another checker ‘independently’ found the same profiles. Look at their site definitions. If both are WhatsMyName, you have one list run twice. Say that. Independent corroboration would be a profile you opened, or a second selector. Do not add the counts.
Questions
Is WhatsMyName free?
Yes. The dataset is on GitHub under CC BY-SA 4.0. There is no paid tier in the project README.
Does a WhatsMyName hit identify a person?
No. It suggests a profile URL. Confirmation is a separate step, and false positives are why the project exists.
Citations
07
Titled sources. These public pages are what the quotes on this listing come from.
Product
WhatsMyName repository
https://github.com/WebBreacher/WhatsMyNameDocumentation
WhatsMyName README
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WebBreacher/WhatsMyName/main/README.md