Search unlocking - wildcard and “name starting with” switched on
We’re very excited to tell you that we have started unlocking the search features.
You can now search using wildcards, or using the “name starting with” feature. To try these out, go to “Search” and click on the “Show advanced fields” button at the bottom.
Both these features will give you a lot more flexibility. For example, I just searched for all footballers in England starting with S.
Wildcards are very useful if you are unsure of a spelling - you can substitute any or all of the parts of a name with a “*”. Searching for “R*B*T*S*” would give you a huge number of variants including Roberts, Robertson, Rabbits, Reblatts and more. “AN*T*” will find Anthony, Annette, Antony, Anita and many more variations.
N.B You cannot search using a wildcard as the first character yet, but we will switch this on soon. Keep an eye on this blog for updates.
Coming soon - a variants search: this finds variants of first names and surnames. A variant search for Elizabeth would find you Liz, Eliza, Liza, Betty, Betsy, Beth and more
For more on search features, read this earlier post: http://blog.1911census.co.uk/2009/01/extra-search-features-coming-after-launch/
January 20th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Does not help, if it’s the first letter of your surname people have trouble with, because you cannot use (*) at the beginning. Why did you not use SOUNDEX instead of these messy types??
January 20th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
@David (and Anonymous)
You can use the wildcard at the beginning of the search field - I have just successfully tried it on the live site (*iddle brought back riddle, siddle, biddle, briddle etc).
You must tick the “Wildcard search” below the search field, though.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I tried that & still got the message (A wildcard cannot be the first character)
& the Wildcard box was ticked & I tried your *iddle & that said the same !!!!!
January 20th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Hello David,
Apologies - I was jumping the gun (and more to the point searching whilst logged on as an administrator which lets me do all kinds of weird and dangerous things).
We’re just testing the performance of the general wildcard search and will switch on the “wildcard as first character” in the next couple of days - I will post to the blog when that is also switched on. Sorry for getting my wires crossed!
January 20th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I still can’t get any results using the last name “art*ss”
What am I doing wrong?
January 20th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
looking for last name *artiss says I can’t use a wild card as the first letter
January 21st, 2009 at 9:04 am
@Mike: “*artiss” will not work for the moment, “art*ss” gives 159 results. make sure that you have ticked the “Wildcard name” box next to the surname before you search - this will be displayed if you click “Show advanced fields” button
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I was told you are employing overseas students to transcript that is why you have lots of mistakes they do not know English names or places!!.
What exstortionate prices Iam going to wait till Anccestry put it on there site.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Re: Wendy’s complaint about poor spelling… pot, kettle. ‘Nuff said!
February 4th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Under “Search features and tips” it says “The wildcard can be used within all search fields, apart from ones which contain the drop-down menus”. This doesn’t appear to be available for “Place of birth” yet, but would be very useful to me!
February 6th, 2009 at 2:12 am
None of the wildcards work for me, in the beginning, middle or end of a name. Whether it’s the ? or *, makes no difference.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
@ Karen: did you click on “Show advanced fields” and select “Wildcard search” below the field you were trying to use the wildcard on?