Find Uncommon Name Orders While Excluding Popular Ones
Most names in English are expressed in news articles and other places like this: Firstname Lastname, or possibly Firstname Middlename Lastname. However, it isn't the only pattern used when writing a name.
Anti-Bullseye Name Search takes a name and generates a Google search that searches for the name in reverse order (Lastname Firstname) and specifically excludes the most common expression of firstname lastname.
It changes the tenor of the search results completely, surfacing many more legal- and data-based results. Try it yourself.
How does this work?
Imagine trying to find information about "John Smith". The top results would likely be dominated by the most popular "John Smith" or by sites using standard name formats.
This tool flips the approach by:
- Explicitly excluding "John Smith" (the standard format)
- Specifically looking for "Smith John" (the reversed format)
- Removing popular sites that tend to clutter search results (shopping, social media, etc.)
This reveals resources where names are listed in reverse order, which often includes academic citations, legal records, institutional databases, and international sources.