Expanding a Surname
Search to Include Spelling Variations
By typing a family name in the surname box, a summary
list of ALL individuals by that name found in the
available record categories will be produced. Only the
categories selected in the checkboxes will be
searched. By default, this is all categories. You can also refine the
search by entering one or more characters of the person's given name is
the 'given name' box.
If you do not know the correct spelling of a surname
or if there are multiple ways of spelling that surname,
then the Soundex facility can help trace all similiar
sounding names e.g. Lally and Lalley or Cavanaugh and
Cavanagh.This can also be useful for surnames where there
is a prefix e.g. McDonagh or Mc Donagh ( note space after
Mc ). Just click the Soundex box on the search screen to
invoke this facility.
While Soundex is useful in certain circumstances, it does
not help in searching for 'groups' of names. For example,
the name Lally and Mullally are sometimes interchangeable
but a Soundex search would not find all occurences of
these. But using a subset of common characters just might! For example
entering LALL would return all Lallys,
Lalleys, Mullallys, Mullalleys, etc. Be careful not to enter single
letter criteria e.g. 'W' as this will return all names with a W anywhere
in the surname of given name.
An additional option is to use the '%' ( percent ) wildcard character
within the search string to match none or more letters which may vary
between surnames e.g. AV%GH will return variants of Cavnagh, Cavanagh,
Cavanaugh, Kavnagh, Kavanagh, Kavanaugh. Where 'middle' letters of a name
may be arranged differently, then this can provide closer matching.
Leaving the surname blank will generate a summary list of
ALL available records in the selected categories.
Once records are selected, they are presented by category
and selecting the appropriate link will display the
details from the records in that category.
Enjoy researching these records. Researchers are
especially encouraged to verify data by checking original
sources or microfilm copies. Any suggestions or comments
will be appreciated. If this facility fails to work as
expected, please email Mike Carroll
with details.