Short answer: No. If you look someone up on Instagram, they won’t be notified or alerted directly that you searched for them. Details and context

• Profile searches: Instagram does not send a notification when someone visits or searches another user’s profile. The act of simply looking up a name or username generally remains private to the viewer. If you later engage (like, comment, follow), the other user may notice that action, but not the initial search itself. [web results indicating no profile search notifications]

• Indirect signals: While the search itself isn’t disclosed, other actions you take—such as liking posts, commenting, or following—can be visible to the account owner and might indirectly indicate interest. Story views are visible to the story owner, but this is separate from profile searches.

• Misleading claims: Be cautious of third-party apps or services that promise to reveal who searched for you or who viewed your profile; Instagram generally prohibits those features, and such claims are unreliable.

Practical takeaways

• If privacy is a concern, you can search without worry about the target being notified.
• If trying to avoid attention, limit actions beyond the search itself (avoid liking or following right after viewing).
• For changes in policy or upcoming features, keep an eye on official Instagram announcements, as third-party sources may speculate. Current consensus remains that profile search notifications are not provided.

If you’d like, I can summarize how privacy works for different Instagram interactions (profile visits, story views, post interactions) or help you understand how to adjust your own account’s privacy settings.