Guide to the Soundex System

Extracted from a National Archives publication.

GUIDE TO THE SOUNDEX SYSTEM The Soundex system keeps together names of the same and similar sounds but of variant spellings. To search for a particular name, you must first work out the code number for the surname of the individual. No number is assigned to the first letter of the surname. If the name is KUHNE, for example, the index card will be in the "K" segment of the index. The code number for KUHNE, worked out according to the system below, is 500.

Soundex Coding Guide
1 = b,p,f,v
2 = c,s,k,g,j,q,x,z
3 = d,t
4 = l
5 = m,n
6 = r
The letters a,e,i,o,u,y,h, and w are not coded.

The first letter of a surname is not coded. Every Soundex number must be a 3-digit number. A surname can be all zeros, as the surname LEE which is L000; can have two zeros added, as KUHNE, coded as K500; or can have one zero added, as EBELL, coded as E140. Not more than three digits are used, so EBELSON would be coded as E142, not E1425. When two code letters or equivalents appear together, or one code letter immediately follows or precedes an equivalent, the two are coded as one letter, by a single number, as follows:
KELLY, with two "L's" is coded as K400; BUERCK is coded as B620; LLOYD, as L300; and SCHAEFER, as S160. If several surnames have the same code, the cards for them are arranged alphabetically by given name. There are divider cards showing most code numbers, but not all. For instance, one divider may be numbered 350 and the next one 400. Between the two divider cards there may be names coded 353, 350, 360, 364, 365, and 355, but instead of being in numerical order they are inter-filed alphabetically by given name. Such prefixes to surnames as "van", "Von", "Di", "de", "le", "D'", "dela", or "du" are sometimes disregarded in alphabetizing and in coding.

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The name Speidel is coded thusly:

  1. Cross out all of the excluded letters: Speidel
  2. Bring down the first letter and the first three remaining letters: Spdl
  3. Substitute the numbers for the letters according to the guide above: S134

One of the members of the family, has studied the code and related names, and he has stated that there is no surname which fits the code S134 which doesn't fit into the family. If this is truly the case, then that is another little fact that makes the Speidel name very unique. There are other names which do not fit the code S134, which may or may not be related, and which I will take as members of the Speidel family only after proof of a connection. Those names include: Seidel and Spindel and associated spelling variations.