* Forwarded (from: GEN_BRITAIN) by Stephen Hayes using timEd/2 1.10.y2k.
* Originally from Roy Stockdill (8:8/2002) to All.
* Original dated: Tue Dec 16, 08:51

From: roy{at}stockdill.com ("Roy Stockdill")

The January-March 2004 issue of the Journal of One-Name Studies will 
carry a 4-page article by Derek Palgrave, President of the Guild of 
One-Name Studies, on the surname variants and deviants topic.

Mention has been made here of Soundex. I rather think that system is
regarded as well outdated now. In his article, Derek Palgrave says
Soundex produces more than 1,000 possibilities for names with the same
code as Palgrave (P426), including PILGRIM, PALISER and PILCHARD, 
which clearly have no connection.

There are newer models now for predicting surname variants, one 
called Metaphone and another called NameX, which are much 
more sensible than Soundex.

NameX is the latest development, devised by a fellow called John 
Challis. It is a Thesaurus containing over 2 million distinct 
surnames and variants, organised in name pairs with weightings. All 
letters of the akphabet are used (Soundex does not use any vowels) 
and NameX produces match scores, i.e. the closer to 100 the greater 
the likelihood of a variant matching a similar name. With NameX 
Palgrave found 41 variants for his name, with scores from 75 to 99.

Roy Stockdill
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,
and that is not being talked about."
Oscar Wilde

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