Hi Keith, I'm afraid you are going to have to get used to wildcards!!!! I am mainly researching FOSKETT with about 60 different spellings to date. I would give up if I had to search for each variation separately. Generally I search for FOSK* which generally gives me all names beginning with FOSK. However, sometimes, this gives me too many "other" names, so I use FOSK*T. (Although this can miss FOSKETTE) The * is generally used as a wildcard to indicate one or more missing letters, with a "?" to indicate just one missing letter. Be aware that some databases (particularly Australian) can use other characters. In your case STONE*L should pick up most of your variations. Sandra ----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith and Clea Cook" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 5:07 PM Subject: [HRT] STONEHILL and variations > > While researching my ancestor Sarah STONEHILL 1730 Puttenham in the IGI, I > found that there were > STONNIELL/STONNIL/STONELL/STONEILL/STONIEL/STONEL/STONNELL/STONHIEL as > well as STONEHILL entries. > > After a very tedious process of trial and error, it became clear that a > search for STONNIELL finds all the above, bar the last two which have to > be searched for separately. > > For any particular search, is there a way of seeing which name variants > are automatically covered? This point applies to Given names just as much > as Surnames. How do I know whether Madge includes Margaret as well as > Marjorie; whether Henry 'includes' Harry etc etc. > > This is equally true of Ancestry searches, though curiously enough not of > GenesReunited which, despite its woeful user interface, at least manages > to provide this information. I have never had much success using > wildcards. Do I just have to live with problem, or have I missed something > simple? > > Though a general point, my excuse for posting this on the Hertfordshire > list is Sarah. I would be very interested to hear from anyone else who has > an interest in the Puttenham STON......, and in Sarah in particular. > > Keith Cook > _________________________________________________________________ > > http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/msnnkmgl0010000007ukm/direct/01/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > _______________________________________ > No viruses found in this incoming message > Scanned by iolo AntiVirus 1.5.3.5 > http://www.iolo.com > _______________________________________ No viruses found in this outgoing message Scanned by iolo AntiVirus 1.5.3.5 http://www.iolo.com