Free browser tool
Newspaper name search planner
When a full-name search stalls, try a small set of explained alternatives. Keep known name variations separate from OCR experiments, and tick off the searches you try.
Private working space. Your entries stay on this page. This tool makes no archive, AI or analytics requests and does not save your work. Refreshing or closing clears it. Copy buttons use your clipboard only when you click them.
Newspaper name search planner
Build a short list of searches to try in your chosen newspaper archive. This tool does not look up records or correct OCR text. A suggestion is not a guaranteed match.
This planner runs in your browser. It does not send or save your family details. Optional analytics is disabled on this tool page.
Your search plan
Try these plain search terms one at a time. No archive-specific operators are added. Choose word, phrase or proximity settings in your archive when available. Broader searches may find unrelated people; compare dates, places and the page image.
Tick off searches you have tried. The checklist stays only in this current plan and resets when you edit any planning input, generate again or clear. Editing a planning input removes the old results immediately.
The example button uses fictional names and a fictional town. This tool never infers ethnicity, maiden names or nicknames.
Why broaden a search? The Library of Congress discusses printed name variations and OCR issues in Tips for Searching in Chronicling America. Archive features differ; use the guidance for your chosen archive.
A free name search generator for newspaper genealogy
This planner is for the moment when you know the person you are looking for, but the archive search keeps returning nothing useful. Enter the name you already know. The tool produces a short, ordered set of searches rather than hundreds of random spellings, and explains the reason for each suggestion.
Start with the name as recorded, then try initials and less restrictive combinations. Add alternate surnames only when you have evidence for them. A spouse's name can help explore notices that use a household or married-name form, but the suggested query is not proof that the person ever appeared under that wording.
Separate historical names from OCR experiments
OCR is the machine-readable text associated with a scanned page. A query can miss an item because letters were read incorrectly, because a name was split or because the newspaper used initials. An OCR-confusion suggestion is a search experiment, not a corrected surname and not a new genealogical fact.
The optional OCR experiments are deliberately limited. Check the explanation beside each one and skip suggestions that do not fit the page you are working with. The planner does not generate ethnic name equivalents, infer maiden names or invent nicknames. The Library of Congress search tips illustrate omitted middle names and OCR errors in Chronicling America searches.
Use the suggestions in your chosen archive
Copy one suggestion into the newspaper archive's search box. Keep title, place and date filters in the archive, where their behavior is documented. These are plain search terms, not a promise that quotation marks, wildcards or proximity operators work everywhere. Change one part of the search at a time so you can tell what helped.
If sensible variants still produce no result, inspect likely issue images. More spelling guesses will not recover an issue that is missing from a collection. See how to work around OCR and browse page images for the next steps.
Questions about name search variations
Does this search any newspaper archive for me?
No. It creates terms to try in an archive you choose. It does not access paid databases, check holdings or claim to have found a record.
Does a suggested spelling belong in my family tree?
Not on the strength of this tool. An OCR experiment belongs in a search log until you inspect the newspaper image and establish what it says.
Will my checklist be here next time?
No. Tick boxes help you track this session, but this tool does not save names or search activity. Copy any useful searches into your own notes before closing or refreshing the page.