Why should you work with Names Unknown?
- This is my job and my priority
- I work fast
- I get results by accepting searches that fit my experience.
Below are real outcomes from real cases — often brought to me after months or years of uncertainty.
Testimonials
People come to me at different stages of their search. This is what they say afterwards.
I must again thank you for the depth of research you must have sifted through and studied to reach the conclusion you did.
I would have no hesitation recommending Sarah for any searches to discover relatives, as her knowledge of this area of expertise must be exceptional.
— Tim E, Yorkshire, England
I was lucky enough to meet Sarah purely by chance online in an adoption group in 2025. I’d previously had a very upsetting and distressing experience with a self-titled Search Angel, who turned out to ruin any chance of interaction with my maternal family – approaching them without my knowledge or consent, and being rejected by them and threatened with police action. This broke my heart. This volunteer Angel lacked knowledge and was arrogant in her self-belief to the detriment of others.
My experience with Sarah has been the complete opposite – professional, understanding, knowledgeable and friendly, which I’m so grateful for. She has helped me immensely and the most important thing to point out is that it was all done with my input, there were no decisions made without my consent. Sarah has a wonderful energy and is deeply patient and understanding of all of the complexities of adoption and how best to undertake searches. She provides sage, practical advice and recommendations.
I’m so happy to have had her support me in my quest to find my paternal relatives, which she has done – my journey is not over yet, but I could not have done it without her, and, more importantly, she won’t do it without you.
— Caroline M, Wellington, New Zealand
Sarah and I found each other in 2018 through MyHeritage DNA results when I did a test hoping to find my birth father. We are cousins on my birth mother’s side, both adopted. Sarah was wonderful and gave me all her extensive research of our shared family. It filled me with joy to finally have a family history going back to the late 1700s.
In 2024 I joined Ancestry to try again to find my birth father. Sarah offered her genetic genealogy skills to help me in my search. I was desperate for any help as I found it so overwhelming trying to figure out family connections from the DNA lists.
Within a week, Sarah had identified my birth father’s immediate family. She is a super sleuth: her research skills blew me away and her ability to find information from many different sources about family members was incredible.
There were several brothers in the immediate family. She narrowed my birth father down to two brothers by using her DNA smarts and then going to old newspaper articles, cemetery records, electoral rolls and more. I never would’ve known how to look for these different resources and would have had to take a genealogy course and spend months looking for what Sarah found so fast.
The brothers’ trail went cold in the 1980s but not from lack of Sarah’s skills or commitment. She even searched records for me in Australia while on holiday. Very recently, one of the brothers’ sisters tested and I am in contact with her. I hope her memories will help me work out which brother is my birth father.
I am so grateful to Sarah and would recommend her without hesitation to anyone needing help to find their birth parents.
— Nikki M, Christchurch, New Zealand
I know I’ve said it before, Sarah, but I am so grateful for your work on my Scottish Family Tree and tying in my DNA results. I get that genealogy is a passion for you, but for me you are bringing my family back to life and until you started poking around, I didn’t know it was dead or missing!
— Anne E-K, Hamilton, New Zealand
Case Studies
Toby – identifying his birth father
Adopted and in his mid-80s, Toby wanted to understand his origins in time to pass them on to his children and grandchildren. He had identified his birth mother, but his father’s identity remained unknown.
The analysis was complicated by a further utterly unsuspected ‘misattributed parentage’, involving his one close paternal cousin. In addition, there were unusually few shared DNA matches with that close cousin.
Names Unknown wove the case for Toby’s father’s identity from multiple strands. First, his DNA matches. Second, proof his birth parents were in the same London suburb at the critical time. Next, interpreting signs in the records of two unhappy marriages that helped explain their liaison. Finally, the cousin’s lineage gave up its secrets, providing collateral support for Toby’s answer.
Milly — identifying her paternal grandmother
Milly had spent ten years seeking her father’s origins after promising him on his deathbed she would continue his lifelong, unsuccessful search.
Eventually she asked for help. A volunteer researcher identified her grandfather, but the grandmother’s identity remained unresolved. The remaining trail led back to England, where the line was obscured by multiple earlier undisclosed parentage events, each breaking the expected paper trail.
Names Unknown stepped in. By combining DNA evidence with a name recalled from a childhood memory, Milly’s paternal grandmother was identified. The research also reconstructed the truth from the lies and omissions that had concealed her English ancestors.