A method for fingerprint record identification includes the steps of: assigning (200) a first number of fingers for a first matching stage and a second number of fingers for a second matching stage; performing (210) the first matching stage of comparing, based on the first number of assigned fingers, a search record to at least a portion of a plurality of file records and generating first matching results of a subset of the at least a portion of the plurality of file records; and performing (220) the second matching stage of comparing, based on the second number of assigned fingers, the search record to at least a portion of the subset and generating second matching results of one of: a strong hit; a weak hit; no hit; and a an ordered portion of the subset.