What is Soundex?

Soundex is used to group together words that sound similar but are spelled differently. Each word is assigned a code that begins with the first letter of the word. The next three consonants are assigned a number. Vowels are ignored. Soundex has been used to index the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 United States censuses and some other types of records, such as naturalization records and passenger lists.