How many different transcriptions are there of the UK census?

Question

Say I was wanting to find someone on the census, I could look on Ancestry.com, findmypast.com., genesreunited, nationalarchives etc...

Do all of these have their own index, or do some share?

Are there any other sites with a free different index?

Sometimes someone has been mistranscribed on one index, but correctly transcribed on another. I'm looking for all those missing hard to find ancestors :-)

Answer 1

Another tip for Ancestry

Just put in first name date of birth town county etc. then check to see if there is a last name that might fit yours.

Open image and see if you do better than the transcriptionist at reading the writing.

Sometimes the census taker would write down the name the way it sounded, so say the name to yourself and spell it phonetically

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure findmypast uses a different transcription to ancestry.

Here's a tip though - if you're using ancestry try ticking 'exact matches' and typing info such as birthplace and approximate year of birth and parents/spouse name. Scan the list of results for a likely match. If there isn't a match, swap and change what info you're putting in. I've found loads of very badly transcribed entries this way.

For example Charles McDermott = Charley Derricott

Hope this helps