> [!AI]+ > **Soundex** is a phonetic algorithm used for indexing and categorizing names by how they sound, as opposed to how they are spelled.[1][1] It was developed for filing information by sound in a manual filing system. **Soundex** codes names by assigning them a code based on the English pronunciation of the letters, grouping similar sounding names together regardless of spelling.[2][3] This helps in tasks like finding names that are spelled differently but pronounced the same in genealogical research.[4] > > [1] [[123317|Soundex - Wikipedia]] > [2] [1920 Federal Population Census - Microfilm Catalog - Part 1](https://www.archives.gov/research/census/publications-microfilm-catalogs-census/1920/part-01.html) > [3] [Soundex - Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences](https://ics.uci.edu/~dan/genealogy/Miller/javascrp/soundex.htm) > [4] [Soundex • FamilySearch](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Soundex)