Yes. As you scroll through the lists, you can cause multiple areas to be selected by holding down the Control key at the same time as you click with the mouse.

You have several options in the search to specify that you wish the search to look for names that sound similar but spelled differently or incorrectly. Click on the button that matches one of the following choices:

• Exact: as it suggests, this will search for exact matches of a name.
• Soundex: The Soundex algorithm was developed by the imigration department of the USA to help catalogue thousands of people arriving there. It works by keeping the first letter of the surname, and then encoding the remaining letters in to a numerical code based on letters that sound the same. So if you choose this option, you will see, for example, SMITH will return matches on SMITH, SMITHE and SMYTHE (and other names too).
• Near: A limitation of the Soundex code is that it assumes that first letter is correct. Often with silent W's and dropped H's this is not true. Near matching takes this into account and so would match HARTAS to ARTAS. (HARTAS is my surname, hence why I spotted the problem!)
• Vague: This takes the Near match a stage further and tries to catch as many possibilities as it can by looking for names which overlap, but don't fall into the category above, for example, TARBUCK and STARBUCK. Beware, this can return some weird matches, but ought to catch most missing links!

If we haven't answered your question here, send an e-mail detailing your query and we'll do our best to answer it. We also welcome suggestions for improving this service, but please remember, we offer this service in our spare time, so please be patient in waiting for a reply.