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How does Geni handle diacritics in non-English searches

Ariel Silverstone

April 06, 2015 14:42

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I am researching about names in Poland, for example.  Here is a name that is *pronounced* (by English speakers) as BIALOWANS . 

But in Polish, the L is pronounced as a W, the W as a V, and AN is really one, Polish letter.   

The net result is that in Polish the *spelling* is BIAŁOWĄS (two diacritics).  The Polish *pronunciation* is BIAWLOVANS .

How does one search for all these different options?  I am sure that other languages have their own quirks, too.

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  Jeff, Geni Curator April 07, 2015 21:03

  As far as I'm aware, Geni doesn't have phonetic matching in their search engine such as soundex and metaphone.  So if you spell it wrong or differently than what exists on the site, then it may not come up in the search.  What I tend to do is use surrounding family names or dates to help filter results to catch variations.  Alternatively, you could try using Google with the addition of " site:geni.com" for public profiles.