Removal guide · PeopleByName

How to remove yourself from PeopleByName

  • Redact removes listings automatically

There's no name search on the way in. You browse PeopleByName's People Directory by surname until your listing appears, copy the Record ID from the corner of every card that's you, and paste up to five into one form. The site says removal usually takes less than 24 hours and emails you when it's done.

PeopleByName homepage screenshot

Who you're dealing with. The PeopleByName profile covers the missing company name and the BBB's F for ignoring removal complaints.

Quick facts

At a glance

Browse · copy · submit
Cost

Free · no account

What the form needs

The Record ID on each listing

IDs per form

Up to 5

Checks

A Cloudflare screen, then a Turnstile box on the form

Stated turnaround

Usually under 24 hours

Confirmation

An email once the records are gone, the site says

Time

About 10 minutes

It clears the directory, not the sources. The removal page itself says taking your name down "will not remove it from its original source," so the phone books and real estate listings it copies from keep your details.

Step by step

Find the listing, copy the ID, send the form

3 screens
01

Work down the People Directory to your name

Open peoplebyname.com/people/. Every search box on the site takes phone numbers only, so this index is the one way in by name. Click the first letter of your last name, keep narrowing through the lists that follow until your surname shows, then click your first name. Repeat for a maiden name or any spelling you might be listed under.

PeopleByName's People Search Directory page, headed Over 600 Million Names, with a green prompt to select the first letter of the person's last name above an A to Z grid of large gray letters. The footer reads 1,379,043,021 total records available.
Start with the first letter of your last name.
02

Copy the Record ID from every card that's you

Your name's page lays out one card per listing, with a Record ID in each card's top-right corner. Copy that number, then read the other cards. One person often turns up several times under different IDs, and the removal page warns that each listing must be removed individually.

A PeopleByName directory page headed People directory with over 600,000,000 names, with a phone number search box beneath the heading. The breadcrumb after People Alphabetically is blacked out, as are three listing cards below it, and a red arrow points at the top-right corner of the third card, where the Record ID sits.
The Record ID sits top right. Take one from each card that matches you.
03

Paste the IDs into the removal form and send it

Open peoplebyname.com/remove.php, headed Remove your name from our People Directory. Type your first and last name as the listing shows them, and an email address you'll check, because the removal notice goes there. Put one Record ID in the first box and any others in the four marked Optional. Add a few words under Reason for removal, wait for the Cloudflare box to show Success!, and click Request Removal. The form gives way to a note that your request has been submitted.

PeopleByName's Removal Form with First name, Last name and Email address boxes and a note that an email follows once the record is removed. Below sit five Record ID boxes, the first blacked out and the other four marked Optional, a line saying the Record ID is at the top right of each directory record, a Reason for removal box, and a Cloudflare check showing Success.
One form takes up to five Record IDs.

The other product

Your number in the phone lookup

The removal form promises the People Directory and says nothing about the phone lookup, the site's main product. If your number is the worry, write in through the contact form too, which is where the FAQ's removal link now leads. Pick Would like my information removed and give the number and your Record IDs.

Afterwards

Checking the cards are gone

Give it two days, then retrace your path through the directory and check every card you took an ID from. Trust that over your inbox, since one BBB complaint describes a request still unanswered a month after it went in.

If it stalls

When something goes wrong

  • A page hangs on the Cloudflare screen. The directory and the form both sit behind one. Turn off your VPN and ad blocker for the tab, or switch browsers.

  • The Record ID box fills with the wrong thing. It holds ten characters, so copy the digits alone.

  • The card's still there after a few days. Send the form again, then email support@peoplebyname.com with the Record IDs and the date you filed. Californians can frame it as a CCPA deletion request, which the privacy policy promises to answer within 45 days.

Later

If you turn up again

  • Look again every few months. A refresh from its sources can list you again under a new Record ID, and the same form handles that.

  • California's DROP won't reach it. PeopleByName isn't on the state's data broker registry, so a request through the DROP platform never gets to this site.

Take yourself off data broker sites

Redact scans 120+ data broker sites from your device, finds where your details are listed, and submits the removal requests for you. If a broker relists you, it files again.

Last updated:

September 10, 2026 · The three step screenshots come from the walk behind the May 27, 2026 version of this guide, and the walked flow is unchanged. The directory and the form now sit behind a Cloudflare check that turns away automated reads, so the form was checked against a July 2026 capture of its code instead of live. That capture corrected the button's name to Request Removal and gave the exact 24-hour wording. The FAQ and contact pages, read live today, added the contact-form route for phone lookups.