What is Soundex?

The soundex is a coded surname (last name) index based on the way a surname sounds rather than the way it is spelled. Surnames that sound the same, but are spelled differently, like SMITH and SMYTH, have the same code and are filed together. The soundex coding system was developed so that you can find a surname even though it may have been recorded under various spellings.

To locate information about a person with the census soundex, you must know his or her full name and the state or territory in which he or she lived at the time of the census.

To search for a particular surname, you must first work out its code.

Click here to use our Soundex Translation Tool.