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Germanic Soundex for Ahnenstammkartei

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The Ahnenstammkartei Vorwort states that these conversions are needed for high German surnames, but Low German Names should be left in there original form. For additional explanation of this process (and a few clues as to which names are high German and which names are Low German) please see An Introduction and Register to Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes compiled by Thomas Kent Edlund, © copyright 1993 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For a complete explanation of this process in German, please the Vorwort on FHL microfilm number 1799712 item 3. Note that this German language foreword has been translated by Edlund and appears on pages xiii through xxiv of the introduction in his An Introduction and Register to Die Ahnenstammkartei des Deutschen Volkes

Some of the surname conversion "rules" in the tranlated foreword contradict others.

Some submissions (over the nearly seven decades it was active) did not always follow the stated rules for various understandable reasons. It should be remembered that several generations of archivists that supervised the collection, and both the rules and the submission guidelines are thought to have been exposed to a certain amount of change over that time.

Creative and intuitive conversions may be needed to find a given surname in the Der Ahenstammkartei.

The bottom line seems to be:

Search for the surname as coverted by use of the table below.
If it is not found, search again using the unconverted surname
If it is stiill not found, get creative and intuitive with regard to other possible spellings that might have been used.

SUMMARY TABLE OF CONVERSIONS

a = a
ae = a
a u = eu
aeu = eu
ai = ei
ay = ei

bf = f

ch = c
chs = c
ck = c
cs = c
cz = c

ds = z
dsch = z
dt = d
dz = z
dzsch = sch

g = c
gh = c
gs = x

j = i

k = c
ks = x

o = o
oe (Nd.) = u
oi = eu

p = b
pf = f
ph = f

q = q

sl (Nd.) = scl
sm (Nd.) = schm

t = d
ts = sch
tz = z

u = u
ue = u

v = f

w = f

y = i