Tips for Searching South African Ancestry Records

• Try different surname spellings.
  If you do not find a record when searching for a name, try spelling variations. Many South African family names were written differently in older records. For example, Fourie may sometimes appear as “Vorie” in older documents.
• Use a partial surname search.
  If you are searching for a surname such as Holtzhausen, try searching for “Holt”. The surname may have been shortened, misspelled, or written differently on the original record.
• Search for maiden names.
  Maiden names can be very useful in South African genealogy research. If you know a woman’s maiden name, try searching for it as well as her married surname. This may help you find death notices, deceased estate records, graves or family links.
• Try both “s” and “z” spellings.
  In older records, “s” and “z” were often used interchangeably. For example, search for both “Holtzhausen” and “Holtshausen”.
• Search using a mother’s maiden name.
  In many families, a male child’s second or third name was the mother’s maiden name. For example, if the mother’s surname was “Page”, her son may have been named John Page Smith. Searching for “Page” as a first name may help you find the right person.
• Try phonetic searches.
  In early church records and handwritten documents, names were often spelled the way they sounded. If you cannot find a person by the normal spelling, try searching for a phonetic version of the name.
• Zoom in on grave photographs.
  Some gravestone photographs may be difficult to read because of age, weather damage, shadows or worn lettering. Save the image to your computer and zoom in. This can make names, dates and inscriptions easier to read.
• Save useful images for your records.
  If you want to save a photograph or record image, right click on the image and choose “save picture as”. This allows you to keep a copy on your computer for your own family history research.
• Search again later.
  If you do not find the record you need today, try again later. The South African Ancestry database is updated regularly, and new records may be added after your first search.

More Help with South African Family History Research

When researching your family tree, always look for more than one record where possible. A grave record, death notice, obituary, deceased estate notice or photograph may each give different details about the same person.

Small details such as a spouse name, occupation, town, cemetery, parent name or maiden name can help you confirm whether you have found the correct ancestor.

You can also visit our South African Ancestry search page to search available family history records.