It is a shame you have no ability to wild card the names.  If you use it correctly, it doesn't create any more hits than you get from a regular search, just cuts down on the number of ways you input the name.  We have a few options in the counties around here to make sure we get all the variations on a name without racking our brains trying to think of ways it could be indexed.  As an example, for Johnson & Jones Company, Inc. In some of the indexes we use we can enter Johnson*jones, or Johnson%jones, to pick up all the variations on one entry (Johnson&Jones, Johnson & Jones, Johnson and Jones). 
When they developed the computer index in Franklin county, we asked them to put in a soundex system that could be used as an option for strange names,  it works ok, but it is very slow.
I don't really trust any of the indexes I have to work with for running by the legal.  We have that option in most areas, and I use it frequently for back up, but  I find the indexing to be less accurate than in the name indexing.
What I find most interesting is the new and different ways I can check the records with computer indexing.  After so many years of learning just one basic system for Ohio, and learning the variations in the counties I work, now I have several new ways to access the index, and so many new variables to consider.
I think you should consider talking to the county people that run the computer indexing, it should not be a big deal for them to give you a wild card option.  Doug