diff --git a/components/language-chooser/common/find-language/searchForLanguage.ts b/components/language-chooser/common/find-language/searchForLanguage.ts
index d541fc7..5f066e2 100644
--- a/components/language-chooser/common/find-language/searchForLanguage.ts
+++ b/components/language-chooser/common/find-language/searchForLanguage.ts
@@ -62,39 +62,36 @@ export function searchForLanguage(
   // e.g. if querystring is "otl", then " otl" is a prefix match for " San Felipe Otlaltepec Popoloca " but not "botlikh"
   const prefixMatchResults = exactMatchFuse.search(" " + queryString);
 
-  const fuzzyMatchFuse = new Fuse(spacePaddedLanguages as ILanguage[], {
+  const fuzzyMatchFuse = new Fuse(languages as ILanguage[], {
     ...baseFuseOptions,
     threshold: 0.3,
   });
   const fuzzyMatchResults = fuzzyMatchFuse.search(queryString);
 
-  // Combine all the result lists with no duplicates, prioritizing whole word exact matches then prefix exact matches then all other fuzzy matches
-  const results = [];
-  const alreadyIncludedResultCodes = new Set();
+  // Use the results from the fuzzy match search, since the others will have incorrect match indices due to the space padding.
+  // But order the results in order of whole word matches, then prefix matches, then the rest with no duplicates
+  const resultsByIso639_3Code = new Map<string, FuseResult<ILanguage>>();
+  for (const result of fuzzyMatchResults) {
+    resultsByIso639_3Code.set(result.item.iso639_3_code, result);
+  }
+  const orderedResults = [];
   for (const resultList of [
     wholeWordMatchResults,
     prefixMatchResults,
     fuzzyMatchResults,
   ]) {
-    for (const result of resultList) {
-      if (!alreadyIncludedResultCodes.has(result.item.iso639_3_code)) {
-        results.push(result);
-        alreadyIncludedResultCodes.add(result.item.iso639_3_code);
+    for (const r of resultList) {
+      const isoCode = r.item.iso639_3_code;
+      const correctResult = resultsByIso639_3Code.get(isoCode);
+      if (correctResult) {
+        // this language was not already added as part of a previous subset
+        // (wholeWordMatchResults should be a subset of prefixMatchResults which should be a subset of fuzzyMatchResults)
+        orderedResults.push(correctResult);
+        resultsByIso639_3Code.delete(isoCode);
       }
     }
   }
-
-  return results.map((r) => ({
-    ...r,
-    // We trim off the spaces that we added above to find exact and prefix matches.
-    item: {
-      ...r.item,
-      autonym: r.item.autonym ? r.item.autonym.trim() : undefined,
-      exonym: r.item.exonym.trim(),
-      names: r.item.names.map((n) => n.trim()),
-      languageSubtag: r.item.languageSubtag.trim(),
-    },
-  }));
+  return orderedResults;
 }
 
 // get language (not macrolanguage) with exact match on subtag
diff --git a/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.spec.ts b/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.spec.ts
index e3ecc21..dc8c211 100644
--- a/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.spec.ts
+++ b/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.spec.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { expect, it, describe } from "vitest";
-import { parseLangtagFromLangChooser } from "./languageTagHandling";
+import {
+  defaultRegionForLangTag,
+  parseLangtagFromLangChooser,
+} from "./languageTagHandling";
 import { getRegionBySubtag } from "@ethnolib/find-language";
 describe("Tag parsing", () => {
   it("should find a language by 2 letter language subtag", () => {
@@ -133,3 +136,24 @@ describe("Tag parsing", () => {
   );
   expect(ssh_Arab_AE_x_foobar_result?.customDetails?.dialect).toEqual("foobar");
 });
+
+describe("defaultRegionForLangTag", () => {
+  it("should return the region for a language tag that already has a region", () => {
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("en-Latn-US")?.name).toEqual(
+      "United States of America"
+    );
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("en-CN-x-foobar")?.name).toEqual("China");
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("en-JP")?.name).toEqual("Japan");
+  });
+  it("should return the region for the closest maximal equivalent of the language tag", () => {
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("uz")?.name).toEqual("Uzbekistan");
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("uz-Cyrl")?.name).toEqual("Uzbekistan");
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("uz-Arab")?.name).toEqual("Afghanistan");
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("uz-Arab-x-foobar")?.name).toEqual(
+      "Afghanistan"
+    );
+    expect(defaultRegionForLangTag("uz-Taml-x-foobar")?.name).toEqual(
+      "Uzbekistan"
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.ts b/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.ts
index bc9d9dd..d741fd1 100644
--- a/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.ts
+++ b/components/language-chooser/react/common/language-chooser-react-hook/languageTagHandling.ts
@@ -118,3 +118,24 @@ export function parseLangtagFromLangChooser(
     } as ICustomizableLanguageDetails,
   } as IOrthography;
 }
+
+export function defaultRegionForLangTag(languageTag: string) {
+  // if languageTag already has a region tag in it, use that
+  const orthography = parseLangtagFromLangChooser(languageTag);
+  if (orthography?.customDetails?.region) {
+    return orthography.customDetails.region;
+  }
+
+  // Otherwise, the maximal equivalent language tag will have the region code
+  const languageSubtag = orthography?.language?.languageSubtag;
+  const scriptSubtag = orthography?.script?.code;
+
+  // Take the most specific/relevant matching maximal tag that we are able to find
+  const maximalTag =
+    getMaximalLangtag(languageTag) ||
+    getMaximalLangtag(`${languageSubtag}-${scriptSubtag}`) ||
+    getMaximalLangtag(`${languageSubtag}`) ||
+    "";
+  const maximalTagOrthography = parseLangtagFromLangChooser(maximalTag);
+  return maximalTagOrthography?.customDetails?.region;
+}
diff --git a/components/language-chooser/react/language-chooser-react-mui/src/index.ts b/components/language-chooser/react/language-chooser-react-mui/src/index.ts
index daff475..3f22eb0 100644
--- a/components/language-chooser/react/language-chooser-react-mui/src/index.ts
+++ b/components/language-chooser/react/language-chooser-react-mui/src/index.ts
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@ export {
   isUnlistedLanguage,
   createTagFromOrthography,
   parseLangtagFromLangChooser,
+  defaultDisplayName,
+  defaultRegionForLangTag,
 } from "@ethnolib/language-chooser-react-hook";
 export type {
   IOrthography,
   ICustomizableLanguageDetails,
-  defaultDisplayName,
 } from "@ethnolib/language-chooser-react-hook";