You don't have to fill out all of the fields, but you
must at least fill out the "Last Name" field. If you leave a field blank,
Internet FamilyFinder will allow anything in that field. It is usually a good
idea to leave the "Middle" name blank unless you really only want matches
that are listed with that name (remember that not all information may have
been typed in with the middle name).
If you only enter an initial in the "First Name" field,
Internet FamilyFinder will find names with that initial. For example, if you
search for "J Smith", this will find "J. Smith" and "J Smith".
Do not enter titles (like Dr., Earl, or Queen)
or suffixes (3rd, III, or Jr.). Just search for the name
without the title and then check the results for the ones you want.
To search for accented characters in names, do not type the accents in
your query. That way you will find the name even if the person who typed in the information
was not able to put in the accents.
Occasionally, if you search for a very common name or last name, the Virtual Index
will report that there are too many matches for the name you entered. This is
to save you and us from wading through thousands of matches. To reduce the number of
matches to a manageable quantity, make sure to enter both a first name and a last name.
