Phonetic coding NYSIIS VS Soundex Taken directly from Robert L. Taft, "Name Search Techniques", New York State Identification and Intelligence NYSIIS algorithm 1) Translate first characters of name     MAC => MCC PH => FF KN => NN K => C SCH => SSS 2) Translate last characters of name     EE => Y, IE => Y DT,RT,RD,NT,ND => D 3) First character of key = first character of name 4) Translate remaining characters by following rules, incrementing by one character each time     EV => AF else A,E,I,O,U => A Q => G Z => S M => N KN => N else K => C SCH => SSS PH => FF H => If previous or next is non vowel, previous W => If previous is vowel, previous 2) Translate last characters of name     If last character is S, remove it If last characters are AY, replace with Y If last character is A, remove it R. C. Russell developed the Soundex algorithm to processes data collected from the 1890 census. Known as the Russell Soundex algorithm numerous variants have been employed for genealogy studies and retrieval systems. Soundex Code Algorithm Use the first letter drop A, E, I, O, U, H, W and Y Generate three digit code according to the following table 1 B, F, P, V 2 C, G, J, K, Q, S, X 3 D 4 L 5 M, N 6 R Drop letters having the same code If necessary pad with zeros General Information About Phonetics Problems cause by phonetic skewed distribution NameSearch® General Information