Reddit Username Lookup: Find a User or Recover Your Old Account

People run a Reddit username lookup for two quite different reasons. Some want to find a specific user, maybe someone who posted a useful answer or a friend who mentioned their handle. Others are trying to find themselves: an account from years ago whose name they can no longer remember. Reddit handles both cases, and neither needs anything beyond Reddit's own tools.

Look up a Reddit user by username

Every Reddit account has a public profile at a predictable address. If you know the exact username, type it straight into the browser:

reddit.com/user/username

The short form reddit.com/u/username takes you to the same place. On the profile you will usually see the account's public posts and comments, when it was created, and its karma. What you see depends on the user: Reddit lets people hide some of their activity from their profile, so an empty-looking page does not always mean an empty account.

Three messages are worth recognizing:

• A normal profile page means the account exists and is active.
• A notice that the account has been suspended means the account exists but Reddit has restricted it.
• "Sorry, nobody on Reddit goes by that name" usually means the name was never registered, or the account was deleted.

Spelling matters. Reddit usernames can use letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores, so mia_reads and mia-reads are two different accounts. If you saw the name in a screenshot, check for those characters before deciding the user does not exist.

Search Reddit when you only half remember the name

If you only know part of a username, use the search bar on Reddit. Results are split into tabs, and the people tab lists accounts whose names match your query. This works best for distinctive fragments. Searching "mike" will bury you; searching "mikebakes" might not.

You can also search for the content instead of the person. If you remember the subreddit and roughly what the post said, search within that community and open the post to see who wrote it. That is often faster than guessing at spellings.

See where else the same username appears

People tend to reuse handles. If you want to know whether a Reddit name also shows up on other platforms, the WhatsMyName Apps username search checks one handle across 3,165 sites in a single run. It is free, needs no sign-up, and takes up to five usernames at once. For Reddit alone, the Reddit username checker tests whether reddit.com/user/name exists and lists Reddit's naming rules.

Treat matches as leads, not answers. The same handle on Reddit and on a gaming site can belong to two unrelated people, especially if it is short or common. Each result is Found, Not found, Blocked or Unknown, and Reddit is strict with automated traffic, so Blocked results for Reddit are normal. Open the profile yourself when it matters. Our guide to reverse username lookup goes into how to read matches without jumping to conclusions.

Recover your own old Reddit account

Forgot which name you used in 2014? Reddit's help center has an article on recovering a lost or forgotten username. The process depends on one thing: whether you added an email address to the account.

At the time of writing, Reddit's steps are:

1. Go to Reddit's log-in screen and choose the option to reset your password.
2. Enter the email address you think you used and submit it.
3. Open the email Reddit sends and select the reset password button.
4. You will see a list of usernames linked to that email address. Pick the one you want and set a new password.

Reddit's help article also suggests searching your inbox for old sign-up or notification emails from Reddit, since they often include the username. Try every address you might have used, including old school or work accounts.

If you never added an email

This is the hard case. Reddit's article on logging in after forgetting your password says that without an email address on the account, a reset is not possible. If you still remember the username, try the passwords you used back then. If you remember neither, a few things can still jog your memory:

• Your browser's saved passwords or a password manager may still have a Reddit entry.
• Old devices might still be logged in. Check a former phone or laptop before you wipe it.
• You may have reused the name elsewhere. Running your usual handles through a digital footprint check can surface a forgotten pattern, and our post on finding old accounts covers more ways to dig.

What you cannot do with an old username

Reddit usernames are permanent. Once a name is finalized you cannot change its spelling or even its capitalization. And if you deleted an old account, the name is gone for good: Reddit does not reuse usernames from deleted accounts, not even for the original owner.

The same goes for names held by inactive users. Reddit's help center says it will not hand over a username just because the account has not posted in a long time. So if your old name is lost and you cannot get back in, the practical answer is a new account with a new name. Reddit allows more than one account per person, and the Reddit checker can test a few candidates before you sign up.

If you do get back into an old account, take a minute to secure it: add a current email, turn on two-factor authentication, and review what you posted. Our guide on securing old accounts walks through that.

WhatsMyName Apps is not affiliated with Reddit. Reddit is a trademark of its owner.