...to be revised...

Hougham is spelt 21 different ways. If you were searching on the web, would you do 21 searches? Here are some attempts to help with this.

Soundex

Soundex is a coded surname (last name) index based supposedly on the way a surname sounds rather than the way it is spelt. After all, until relatively recent times names were not often written down and, if they were, they were written the way they sound. One family of Hougham's has their name spelt three different ways by the same priest on different family occasions!

Every soundex code consists of a letter and three numbers, such as W252. The letter is always the first letter of the surname. The numbers are assigned to the remaining consonants of the surname according to certain rules. Zeroes are added at the end if necessary to produce a four-character code. Additional letters are disregarded. Examples: ROY=R000; ROYES=R200. However HOUGHAM=H250 yet HUFFAM=H150. This example indicates that the code is not so much based on sound as spelling so that Hougham is regarded as having a "g" (=2) and Huffam an "f" (=1). More information at NARA | Genealogy | Soundex Indexing

Of course you can use this method of searching only on web sites that understand soundex. RootsWeb has a soundex converter at Soundex Converter by RootsWeb. You simple type in your surname and it will convert it to a soundex code.

The system has significant limitations.

1. I have already shown that although Hougham and Huffam are pronounced the same their soundex codes are in fact different.
   
2. The number 2 can mean C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, or Z - which escapes my logic. This use of consonants is unable to take account of "f", "ph" and "gh" having the same sound so it is not properly sound based.
   
3. Another drawback is that you end up with more matches than you need, which may or may not be better than doing those 21 searches for Hougham! For instance, ROYES=R200 produces any name starting with R and having only one other consonant that is C, G, J, K, Q, S, X, or Z, resulting in these additional matches: RAASIO |RACE |RASEY |RASH |RAUCH |RAUCK |RAUSCH |REASE |REECE |REES |REESE |REHG |REICH |REIS |REISS |RESCH |REUS |REUSS |REX |REYES |REZEAU |RHYS |RIACH |RICCI |RICE |RICH |RICHEY |RICHIE |RICK |RICKEY |RICKS |RIES |RIESE |RIGG |RIGGS |RISK |RIX |RIZZO |ROACH |ROCHE |ROCK |ROESCH |ROGGE |ROOK |ROOKS |ROOS |ROOSA |ROOSE |ROSA |ROSCOE |ROSE |ROSS |ROSSI |ROSSOW |ROUGH |ROUSE |ROUSEY |ROUSH |ROUSSEAU |ROUX |ROWZEE |ROWZIE |ROYCE |RUCH |RUCK |RUGG |RUIZ |RUSCH |RUSH |RUSK |RUSS |RUSSEAU |RUSSO |RYSE | - and I notice ROYSE is not there!

As far as I can see, soundex is unreliable (as indicated by both the Hougham/Huffam and Royes examples), and about the only advantage would be in discovering alternative spellings for a name. Otherwise, to search for names using soundex provides far too much information.

Metaphone

Metaphone was developed by Lawrence Philips as a response to deficiencies in Soundex. It is more accurate than Soundex because it uses a larger set of rules for English pronunciation. Metaphone is available as a built-in operator in a number of systems, including later versions of PHP - which TNG makes use of. The metaphone for Roy is "R" and a search of our database produces RAE | ROY | WRAY. Hougham is "HM" and Huffam is "HFM" so it seems it still isn't quite phonetic.

You don't have to know the metaphone code for a name when searching RRFL. Try searching (in the search form) for Last Name metaphone of Royes.

NameX^®

From Origins Network:

NameX is a proprietary name-matching tool which allows you to find family records for names which have common variations in spelling or which may have been spelled incorrectly on some records.

• Exact only - Finds only the names that match the spelling you entered exactly.
• Close variants - Finds names which are common variants of the spelling you entered.
• All variants - Finds names which match all known variants of the spelling you entered.

NameX powers searches across British Origins and Irish Origins.

How does NameX compare to Soundex?

NameX is vastly superior to Soundex, which is really not well adapted for searching for name variants. For example, while NameX identifies 147 highly plausible variants for the surname Wilson, Soundex identifies 1185 "variants", of which nearly 90% are unlikely in the extreme (eg. Wahlgamath, Whilesmith, Willigenburg).

NameX uses a Last name thesaurus containg 75 million entries for 1.5 million distinct last names and a First name thesaurus containing over 3 million entries for 260,000 distinct first names.

NameX is a registered trademark of The Origins Network.