ke tracking genealogy or searching for a spoken surname easier.</p>

<p>Soundex was patented by Margaret O'Dell and Robert C. Russell in 1918, and the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/census/soundex">U.S. Census</a> is a big consumer of Soundex along with genealogical researchers, directory assistance, and background investigators. The Soundex algorithm is a coded index based on the way a name sounds rather than the way it is spelled. Surnames that sound the same but are spelled differently, like 