When a person makes a query of a data base, a particular result is expected. The actual results are called the query set. There are two ways in which the system may need to adjust the query so as to bring the actual result set into line with what is expected.
The first way is to assign a standard to all the various and sundry spellings of the same name. Thus when one makes a query with a particular spelling, its standard is queried instead. Every variant has that same standard assigned to its index key. In this way, one may reasonably get all the variants of the name queried to come back in the query set.
The second way is to associate multiple related names with one another. This will have the effect of broadening the query and again reducing the number of different queries one would have to make. The first way brings variants together, the second way brings names together. The next paragraphs illustrate each of these possibilities.