Understand Finder Find Results
In the Finder, use command-F to get a Finder search window.  You will get:


There is now a bar with criteria added.  You see a pop-up menu "Kind" followed by "is" and another pop-up menu "Any".  Click the "Kind", and choose "Name" from that menu:


There now is a pop-up menu just following "Name", select "contains" from that, and type the word "path" in the field that follows.
You can add criteria by clicking the + sign at the right of the search bar.


Spotlight does seem to "power" the default search field in Finder windows.  I use Spotlight only in desperation, as it almost never ever finds what I'm looking for.  But with the search criteria in the Finder's search window I usually book success.

So, remember:  command-F gets you a Finder search window with a criteria bar, and that certainly helps.