Standard Search Logic

What does your standard search logic do?

When you enter a debtor's name and click on "Search", our standard search logic will "normalize" the name and then check for matches. Only the standard search uses our standard search logic.

What does "normalize" mean?

"Normalized" text is text that is modified in order to make it consistent. This helps to improve the results of a standard search.

How do you normalize names?

Organizations:

The name is converted to upper case.
Ampersands (&) are converted to "and".
Characters that are not 0-9 or A-Z, including punctuation, are replaced by a space.
Spaces at the beginning or end of the name are removed.
If there are two (or more) spaces in a row, extra spaces are removed and only one will remain.
"A", "an" and "the" at the beginning or end of a name are removed.
- "A" is not removed if it is followed by "and" and a space (such as "A and M, Inc." or "A & M, Inc.")
"Ending noise words" are ignored (e.g., "company", "Corp", "Inc", etc.)
All spaces are removed.
Only names that are an exact match to the normalized name are included in the results.

For example, if you searched for "The ABC Company", your results would include:

ABC Co
ABC Company
ABC Inc
ABC LLC
ABC Partnership
The ABC Company

Individuals:

Only the last name, first name, and middle name are used.
A last name is required
The name is converted to upper case
Any characters that are not 0-9 or A-Z, including punctuation, are replaced by a space.
Spaces in the last name, first name, and middle name are removed.
Only last names that are an exact match to the normalized last name are included in the results.

You can search for an individual using any of these combinations:

You may need to swipe or scroll sideways to see the whole table.

Search terms	A search for	Will return	Result includes records that
Search terms Last name	A search for Smith	Will return Smith	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have no first name. Have no middle name.
Search terms Last name, first initial	A search for Smith, J	Will return Smith, J Smith, John Smith, John A Smith, John Brandon	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first initial. Have any middle initial or name.
Search terms Last name, first initial, middle initial	A search for Smith, J J	Will return Smith, J James Smith, John J Smith, John Jackson Smith, John James	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first initial. Have any middle name that begins with the middle initial.
Search terms Last name, first initial, middle name	A search for Smith, J Jean	Will return Smith, J Jean Smith, Jane Jean Smith, Jane Jeanette	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have any middle name that begins with the middle name. Have any first name that begins with the first initial.
Search terms Last name, first name	A search for Smith, John	Will return Smith, John Smith, John Adam Smith, John B Smith, Johnson	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have any name that begins with the first name. Have any middle initial or name.
Search terms Last name, first name, middle initial	A search for Smith, John A	Will return Smith, John A Smith, John Adam Smith, John Andrew Smith, Johnson A	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first name. Have any middle name that begins with the middle initial.
Search terms Last name, first name, middle name	A search for Smith, John James	Will return Smith, John James Smith, John Jameson Smith, Johnny James Smith, Johnny Jameson	Result includes records that Match the exact last name. Have any first name that begins with the first name. Have any middle name that begins with the middle name.