Surname Soundex – Get ideas for alternate spellings and pronunciations of your surname.
The soundex is a coded surname (last name) index based on the way a surname sounds rather than the way it is spelled. Surnames that sound the same, but are spelled differently, like SMITH and SMYTH, have the same code and are filed together.
The Soundex system was used as a method of indexing names in the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Census. Soundex can also aid genealogists by identifying spelling variations for a given surname.
Article Index:
The surname Bailey was established early on in North America by several different bearers; one of them, James Bailey, was one of the founders of Rowley, MA. A family of Huguenots of this name settled in CT, also using a variant spelling Besly.
Origin and Meaning of the Bailey surname
Bailey is a surname derived from words meaning "berry, enclosure, porter, and woodland clearing."
This surname has three distinct origins. First, it can be an occupational name for a steward or official from the Old French "baillis" or "bailif", and middle English "bail(l)." The word survives in Scotland as "bailie", the title of a municipal magistrate, but in England has developed into "bailiff," an officer of the court.
The soundex code for the Colbert name is C416. The Colbert name originates in England, Scotland, or France.
The Soundex Code for the Hill surname is H400. Hill is the 33rd most numerous surname in the United States. Hill is a surname of English origin, meaning (no surprise here) "a person who lived on a hill." Here is a list of other names that share this soundex code.