A lot of people have confiscated my name, even before I was born !
It seemed to be a pretty good search on public (real estate, birth, etc.) records.
It did turn up some, but not all, of my references in the scientific literature,
but a Google search can be much more complete.
Here is a web site I use with prospective tenants for a free
criminal background check.
This too is not always up to date or complete, but the price is right.