Name match score
A number expressing how closely a search term resembles a recorded name, and nothing more.
Updated 2026-07-26
Search here compares a normalised form of what you typed with normalised forms of every recorded name variant, and reports a similarity for each hit. The score describes string resemblance. It does not describe probability of identity, and it is not a confidence level.
A perfect score means the strings are the same after normalisation. That is a common event for common names and by itself identifies nobody. A middling score can still be the right person, because transliteration and name order vary.
The score is always shown next to the result, together with the exact variant matched, so that the reader can judge the match instead of accepting a verdict. No verdict is issued.
Related terms
5 entries- False positive
- A search result that resembles the query but refers to a different person or entity.
- Sanctions list
- An official register of persons and entities subject to restrictive measures, published by a government or an international body.
- Strong alias
- An alternative name an authority publishes without a reliability warning, such as a former legal name.
- Transliteration
- The rendering of a name from one writing system into another, which produces several valid spellings of the same name.
- Weak alias
- A name variant an authority publishes with a warning that it is too common or too partial to identify anyone on its own.