Can we have a smarter match?

Question

Today, I found that MacWilliams and Mackwilliams are not detected as similar names. Can matching be improved in this way, maybe with an option to search for exact or similar names, using whatever (standard) technology available?

I have similar wishes for names with and without prefixes like van, de, etc., so this may just be a start.

Comments

Yes, please!  I am going a little batty matching Hix, Hixe, and HIcks, and also Matheny, Metheny, Mathenia, Mathena.  Heving the option to match as suggested above would really help.  Thanks!

---

Enno ( and Linda):

I retagged this to the category "Enhancements" (from improvements).

Why? Because there exists a Project group for WikiTree Technical Enhancements here that includes some very talented coders, programmers and thinkers - and each and all of them watch for the tag Enhancements to show up in their email.

So my interferring here is intended to get their attention to your question!

Thank you both for your interest in and contributions to the WikiTree.

Keith

Answer 1

I'll mention it to Chris too, I'm not sure in what ways we can improve the search feature, but it is certainly something that needs to be addressed.

Keith, thanks for retagging- that's  a great point! There are probably quite a few posts like this that should be redirected to that tag.

Comments

The LDS has a standard for name searches, which works well on FamilySearch. Most desktop programs understand name variants too, and WeRelate.org recently published all source code here: https://github.com/werelate?tab=repositories

---

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundex