Search Obituaries by Last Name: Free Step-by-Step Guide 2025

Finding an obituary by last name used to mean scrolling through microfilm or calling newspaper archives. Now free websites index over 100 million notices, and a surname alone can pull up a death record within seconds.

Obituaries indexed by Legacy.com: over 100 million · GenealogyBank obituaries date range: 1690 to today · Daily new death notices on RIP.ie: dozens per day

Four quick facts, one pattern: free obituary databases are powerful but each has a different specialty — some focus on recent death notices, others on historical archives.

How do you find a person who passed away?

Start with the last name

The simplest approach: enter the surname into a dedicated obituary search engine. Legacy.com (largest US obituary aggregator) lets you search by last name alone and returns results from its index of over 100 million notices. For Irish deaths, RIP.ie (Ireland’s most widely used death-notice site) allows a surname-only search and shows notices from the last seven days, with optional county and date-range filters.

Use free obituary search engines

Free platforms are your first stop. GenealogyBank (historical obituary archive) indexes 346 million records and lets you search by name and state at no cost. FamilySearch (non-profit genealogy organisation) offers a free collection of hundreds of thousands of obituary records, particularly useful for genealogical research. For UK death notices, Funeral Guide (UK-based death-notice aggregator) provides free lookups.

Check local newspaper archives

Many local newspapers maintain online archives of obituaries. For US searches, combine the surname with a state or city in a search engine — for example, “obituary Smith Ohio” — and check results from newspaper sites like The State (South Carolina’s major newspaper). In Ireland, the Irish News Archive (repository of over 6 million pages) contains decades of provincial and national newspaper content.

Use free obituary lookup methods

Yes, and you don’t need to pay. Legacy.com offers a free obituary lookup with name-only search. GenealogyBank lets you search by name and date range for free, and FamilySearch has free access to its obituary database. For the UK, Funeral Guide provides free death-notice searches by surname.

How do I find a local obituary?

Search by name and state

When you know the person’s name and the state where they lived, that pair is the most effective filter. GenealogyBank allows combined name-and-state queries, and Legacy.com offers a state filter alongside the name field. For recent US deaths, this approach typically returns the obituary within seconds.

Use local newspaper websites

Obituaries often appear first on the website of the local newspaper. Search for “[newspaper name] obituaries” plus the surname. Many newspapers, such as The State’s obituary page, maintain their own searchable databases. For UK and Irish local papers, Findmypast (genealogy platform with Irish newspaper death notices) recommends searching by full name, date, and place of death.

Visit funeral home platforms

Funeral homes and crematoriums publish death notices directly. Many use aggregator services like Funeral Times in Northern Ireland or RIP.ie in the Republic. FuneralTimes.com (Northern Ireland death-notice aggregator) is free to search and covers only that region.

How do I find old death notices in Ireland?

Use RIP.ie for recent Irish death notices

RIP.ie is the default platform for recent Irish death notices. You can browse by surname, county, and date range. Notices from today, yesterday, and the past week are all accessible. The archive extends back to July 2006, making it useful for deaths within the last two decades.

Explore Irish newspaper archives

For older notices, newspaper archives are essential. Irish News Archive spans 279 years of Irish publications and is free to search (subscription for full articles). John Grenham (Irish genealogy expert) notes that the British Newspaper Archive has fuller runs of provincial newspapers from around 1840, especially for nineteenth-century Ulster. He recommends searching both archives because OCR errors differ between them.

Check Church records and civil registration

Before civil registration, church records are the primary source. FamilySearch states that Catholic parish registers held by the National Library of Ireland contain many burial records. For civil registration, IrishGenealogy.ie (official Irish civil records search) provides free death records from 1871 to 1974 and indexes from 1864 to 1870.

Can I search to see if someone has died?

Free obituary lookup methods

Yes, and you don’t need to pay. Legacy.com offers a free obituary lookup with name-only search. GenealogyBank lets you search by name and date range for free, and FamilySearch has free access to its obituary database. For the UK, Funeral Guide provides free death-notice searches by surname.

Check multiple databases

A single database might miss a notice if the death was not submitted there. Cross-check across aggregators: query the surname on Legacy.com, GenealogyBank, and RIP.ie if the person had Irish connections. Findmypast’s Ireland newspaper death notices collection is another free-index resource that directs you to original newspaper images.

Use Social Security Death Index (US)

For US deaths, the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a valuable free resource, though it typically covers only individuals who had a Social Security number and whose death was reported. When a name and date are found there, you can then look for the corresponding obituary.

How do I look up death records in Ireland?

Request from General Register Office Ireland

Official death certificates are available from the General Register Office Ireland (state registrar). You can order a certified copy online or by post. The GRO holds civil death records from 1864 onward.

Use online indexes like Irish Genealogy

IrishGenealogy.ie is the free official search interface for civil registration records. You select a county, civil registration district, or church area, then search for death events. The site provides free indexes and sometimes scanned images.

Check Roman Catholic parish registers

Many Catholic parish records have been digitised and are searchable via the National Library of Ireland’s parish register website. These registers often include burial entries before 1864 when civil registration began. FamilySearch also points to this as a key resource for Irish death-related research.

Expert perspectives on obituary searching

“Browse our complete collection of obituaries and death notices.”

Legacy.com (largest US obituary directory)

“Search 346+ million obituaries and death records from 1690 to today.”

GenealogyBank (historical obituary archive)

“Discover the most recent death notices from Ireland.”

RIP.ie (Irish death notice platform)

For anyone searching for a death notice, the key is to match the tool to the time period and region. Recent US deaths? Start with Legacy.com. Recent Irish deaths? RIP.ie is the fastest. Historical records? Combine GenealogyBank, FamilySearch, Irish News Archive, and civil indexes. The trade-off is clear: free access comes with search limits, but by chaining multiple sources you can usually find what you need without spending a cent.

Frequently asked questions

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