How Does Soundalike Actually Work?
Our soundalike system reduces English names to fifteen distinct sounds.
| Code | Sound |
|---|---|
| * |
all vowel sounds |
|
0 |
thorn, thing, then, this, that |
|
f |
fail, vale, favor |
|
h |
hotel |
|
j |
judge |
| k |
kick, goat, coat |
| l |
lord, llama, lloyd |
| m |
mother |
| n |
nine |
| p |
pat, bat |
| s |
slip, zip, size, sausages |
| t |
tire, dire |
| w |
wire, wear, power |
| x |
church, shoe, fish, ditch |
|
* |
ALL vowel sounds (a,e,i,o,u,y) |
So where are all these weird results coming from?
Remember, some letters have radically different pro
If you do a partial matching search, you might get some really strange search results - for example, a search for "aled rees" brings back Juliet Forester, Nicolette Morrison and Elliot Russo.
This is happening because.
- "aled" becomes "
*l*t" - "rees" becomes "
r*s" - "juliet" becomes "
j*l*t" - "forester" becomes "
f*r*st*"
The system then matches the soundalike codes, and finds the "l*t* in "j*l*t" and the "r*s" in "f*r*s*t*"