If you would like to check in PHP , then you should do something like :
$query_s =mysql_query("SELECT YOURROWNAME from `YOURTABLENAME` where name = $name");
$ertom=mysql_fetch_array($query_s);
if ('' !== $ertom['YOURROWNAME']) {
//do your action
echo "It was filled";
} else {
echo "it was empty!";
}