1. A method for identifying a name stored in a computer system, said method comprising: defining a plurality of phonetic letter families representing the letters of an alphabet, where each phonetic letter family includes one or more letters which sound similar when spoken; providing a database of names which includes both an actual spelling of each name and a phonetic equivalent spelling of each name, where the phonetic equivalent spelling of each name is spelled using the phonetic letter family for each letter in the name; spelling a name that a user wants to identify in the database of names; converting each letter in the name spelled by the user to its phonetic letter family, to create a series of phonetic letters, by a speech recognition processor device; comparing the series of phonetic letters to the phonetic equivalent spelling of each name in the database, to create a list of possible matches, by a controller device; narrowing the list of possible matches as each additional letter is added to the series of phonetic letters, by the controller device; and presenting the list of possible matches to the user for confirmation when the user completes the spelling of the name.
1. A method for identifying a name stored in a computer system, said method comprising: defining a plurality of phonetic letter families representing the letters of an alphabet, where each phonetic letter family includes one or more letters which sound similar when spoken; providing a database of names which includes both an actual spelling of each name and a phonetic equivalent spelling of each name, where the phonetic equivalent spelling of each name is spelled using the phonetic letter family for each letter in the name; spelling a name that a user wants to identify in the database of names; converting each letter in the name spelled by the user to its phonetic letter family, to create a series of phonetic letters, by a speech recognition processor device; comparing the series of phonetic letters to the phonetic equivalent spelling of each name in the database, to create a list of possible matches, by a controller device; narrowing the list of possible matches as each additional letter is added to the series of phonetic letters, by the controller device; and presenting the list of possible matches to the user for confirmation when the user completes the spelling of the name. 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein: the computer system is a vehicle navigation system; the database of names is a navigation database of street addresses, cities, and states; and the name spelled by the user is a destination address containing a street number, a street name, a city name, and a state name.