Names Search Help

Entering a name in the Surname field will yield exact results only, without any spelling variations:

For more detailed options, see “Specialized Search Tips” below.

One of the best ways to limit your results is by adding a Given Name to your search. This is only available in the Names Search database, not in the simple search interface found on the website.

For more detailed options, including variant spellings on Given Names, see “Specialized Search Tips” below.

Given historical shifts in borders and governance, especially but not limited to Central and Eastern Europe, it can be difficult to know which form or spelling of a place name to use in your search. The Location search field helpfully combines spelling variants. For example, a search on Vilna will yield results for Vilna, Vilnius, and Wilno; a search on Lwow will yield results for Lwow, Lviv, Lvov, and Lemberg. The principal spelling used in the metadata is the present-day form (Vilnius or Lviv) despite a different spelling on the document itself.
Example:
Search term: Vilna
Results: 1,233
Sample result:

Spelling on original document:

There are several ways to run a search that includes variants, including use of wildcards and/or Boolean searching.

Wildcards

Use the wildcard symbol * to search for results that include all variations on a name ending:

Boolean search

Use the symbol “|” (= the Boolean operator “OR”) to search for specific/exact variant spellings. Only the spellings you enter will be included in your results:

Wildcard and Boolean search can also be combined:

This will yield results that include all variations of name endings (-witz, -wits, -wicz, -vits, -vic, -vici, etc.) on forms that begin with Mosko- or Mosco-.

You can narrow down these results by adding a name in the Given Name search field:

Given Name searches can also include variants:

Although the Names Index includes more than 700,000 names, with more continually being added, there are many documents in the Text Collection that include names but have not been indexed. As previously mentioned, the index only includes names of those who have received JDC assistance. Very brief lists and correspondence that may mention an individual name are also not indexed. As noted in the opening of this help guide, for a complete inventory and description of the documents that have been indexed, see Lists in the Names Index.

To search for names in the Text Collection database, choose Text Collection under Select Databank Profile:

A different set of search fields will appear.

Best results for names that appear within a document are obtained using the Full Text Search field. Searching in this field yields results of terms that are found within each document rather than the metadata of the record.

Example:

To open the document, click on the four-arrow icon (boxed in red above). For a multipage document where it may be difficult to see where the name occurs, enter the search term in the “Find in document” window (boxed in green below):

You will be taken to the place in the document where the name occurs:

Depending on how common a surname is, a full-text search on a surname only may yield many unrelated results. To refine your results, you may enter a full name (Given Name and Surname) into the Full Text Search window; select the search type “Contains the phrase”:

Full-text searches can make use of the wildcard (*) or Boolean operator or (|) as described above in the section “Specialized Search Tips.”

For further guidance on Text Collection search, see How to Search the Text Collection.