SEARCH THE WAY YOU THINK THE NAME IS WRITTEN (SOUNDEX)

Soundex is a method of coding words according to their pronunciation. This allows you to search the database for names and places when you don't know precisely how they are written. PhpGedView supports two different Soundex algorithms that produce vastly different results.

• Basic
  This method, patented in 1918 by Russell, is very simple and can be done by hand.
  
  Because the Basic method retains the first letter of the name as part of the resultant code, it is not very helpful when you are unsure of that first letter. The Basic algorithm is not well suited to names that were originally in languages other than English, and even with English names the results are very surprising. For example, a Basic Soundex search for Smith will return not only Smith, Smid, Smit, Schmidt, Smyth, Smithe, Smithee, Schmitt, all of which are clearly variations of Smith, but also Smead, Sneed, Smoote, Sammett, Shand, and Snoddy.
  
  
• Daitch-Mokotoff
  This method, developed in 1985, is much more complex than the Basic method and is not easily done by hand.
  
  A Soundex search using this method produces much more accurate results.

For details on both Soundex algorithms, visit this Jewish Genealogical Society web page.