Technically, a bankruptcy filing is public. Practically speaking, unless someone goes down to the courthouse to search your name, they will not know you filed bankruptcy. It is not published in the newspaper or any other publication. Your creditors will be notified that you filed bankruptcy. It will be up to you whether to tell friends and family about your bankruptcy. If you do, you may be surprised to find one or more of them have filed bankruptcy in the past as well. It’s not as uncommon as you might think.