Producing a list of names from your database similar to what is found by RootsMagic 4’s Search > Person List > NameFind, this query does it faster. Moreover, you can sort and filter the results, not supported in RootsMagic Explorer’s NameFind. As a list, it may prove handy to use in conjunction with RM Explorer’s “Record number to find” function (Alt-R).

This query requires the use of SQLite Expert Personal or another SQLite manager that fully supports SQLite runtime parameters of the form $AA::AA(anytext). Neither SQLiteSpy nor SQLite Developer do.

Download

NameFind.sql

Screenshots

Sample input dialog

On running the query, you will encounter a series of dialog windows prompting for inputs for:

• UseSoundex(Y/N) – Y will use the Soundex function to look for soundalikes
• Surname – the search string for surnames
• Given – the search string for given names; left blank returns all surname matches

When Soundex is not invoked, you can also use wildcards in the name strings: _ for 1 character, % for any number of characters.

Sample result sorted on death year.

The query adds a suffix after the found surname if it is not the person’s primary name: (m) for married name (i.e., the name of the male spouse although that might not be accurate for all cases), (alt) for alternate name.

SQLite Expert Personal allows you to sort these results on any column (it re-runs the query adding an ORDER BY columnname clause). It also lets you filter simply entering a value in the cell of a column above the results or a more complex filter can be built using its Customise button. You can copy and paste selected results directly into Excel and Microsoft Word (use Convert text to table accepting its default settings).

Future

This is about the simplest result set that is useful. Of course, more RM4 tables could be tied in to extend the type of information that could be brought out.