> [!info] > Input: [[Username|nickname]], [[Name|name]] > Output: candidate username variants, candidate email variants > > Types: [[Behavioural Weakness|behavioural]] > Weakness: [[SOWEL-8. Using Nicknames]] > Functionality: [[SOFL-11. Links and Personal Pages]] ### Explanation A target's chosen username on one platform is rarely identical across all platforms — it usually mutates by predictable rules. Common permutations include character substitutions (`s` ↔ `5`, `o` ↔ `0`, `i` ↔ `1`, `e` ↔ `3` — classic leetspeak), separators (`john.smith` ↔ `john_smith` ↔ `johnsmith` ↔ `john-smith`), suffixed numbers (birth year, lucky number, the year an account was first claimed), prefixes (`real_`, `official_`, `_xx`), and language transliteration (Cyrillic → Latin or vice versa: `александр` → `aleksandr` → `alexander` → `oleksandr`). Given a starting handle, generate the permutation set programmatically and feed it into username-search tools (`sherlock`, `maigret`, WhatsMyName) to enumerate which alternative usernames are actually registered on which platforms. For email-style permutations, the same logic applies to first/last name combinations (`jsmith@`, `john.s@`, `j.smith@`, `johns@` — about two dozen common patterns) and feeds into account-discovery tools like `holehe`. Permutation hits are candidates, not confirmations — many common name+number combinations belong to unrelated people. Verify a hit by checking whether the candidate account's content, photo or interaction graph corresponds to the original target. [[SOTL-8.1. Check Pseudonyms]] handles the candidate-generation phase for non-name handles (call signs, aliases); this technique handles the name-derived case. ### Examples - [Username generation guide](https://github.com/soxoj/username-generation-guide) - [# 10 Tips for Tracking Russian-Owned Assets - Transliteration](https://gijn.org/10-tips-for-tracking-russian-owned-assets/) ### Tools - [Email permutator](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17URMtNmXfEZEW9oUL_taLpGaqTDcMkA79J8TRw4xnz8/edit#gid=0) ### See also - [[SOTL-8.1. Check Pseudonyms]] - [[SOTL-8.3. Use Personal-Info-Based Identifiers]]