Soundex code
Free · runs in your browser · nothing you type is uploaded
L532: Lundquist, Lindquist, Lundqvist would be filed together in a Soundex index.
Go deeperWhere Soundex came from
Robert C. Russell and Margaret King Odell patented Soundex in 1918. In the 1930s, Works Progress Administration workers used it to index the 1880, 1900 and 1920 US censuses and parts of 1910 and 1930, filing cards by code instead of exact spelling.
It was built for English names, so it can miss variants in other languages. Genealogists later created Daitch–Mokotoff Soundex for Eastern European and Jewish names.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
Questions
What is Soundex?
A way of coding surnames by how they sound, so different spellings land together. The US government used it to index the 1880 to 1940 censuses, and many state and immigration indexes use it too.
How is the code made?
Keep the first letter. Then turn consonants into numbers (B F P V = 1; C G J K Q S X Z = 2; D T = 3; L = 4; M N = 5; R = 6), skip vowels, H, W and Y, count side-by-side letters with the same number once (even across an H or W), and stop at three digits, adding zeros if needed.
Why does Van Dyke show two codes?
Indexers didn't always agree on prefixes like Van, De, Mc and O'. Search under both codes to be safe.