Edit in JSFiddle

$(document).ready(function(){
   var table = $('#example').DataTable({
      dom: 'Alfrtip',
      alphabetSearch: {
         column: 0
      }      
   });
});
<h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.gyrocode.com/projects/jquery-datatables-alphabetsearch/">jQuery DataTables AlphabetSearch</a></h3>
    
<table id="example" class="display" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Position</th>
            <th>Office</th>
            <th>Age</th>
            <th>Start date</th>
            <th>Salary</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tfoot>
        <tr>
            <th>Name</th>
            <th>Position</th>
            <th>Office</th>
            <th>Age</th>
            <th>Start date</th>
            <th>Salary</th>
        </tr>
    </tfoot>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>Tiger Nixon</td>
            <td>System Architect</td>
            <td>Edinburgh</td>
            <td>61</td>
            <td>2011/04/25</td>
            <td>$320,800</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Garrett Winters</td>
            <td>Accountant</td>
            <td>Tokyo</td>
            <td>63</td>
            <td>2011/07/25</td>
            <td>$170,750</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Ashton Cox</td>
            <td>Junior Technical Author</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>66</td>
            <td>2009/01/12</td>
            <td>$86,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Bradley Greer</td>
            <td>Software Engineer</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>41</td>
            <td>2012/10/13</td>
            <td>$132,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Dai Rios</td>
            <td>Personnel Lead</td>
            <td>Edinburgh</td>
            <td>35</td>
            <td>2012/09/26</td>
            <td>$217,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Jenette Caldwell</td>
            <td>Development Lead</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>30</td>
            <td>2011/09/03</td>
            <td>$345,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Yuri Berry</td>
            <td>Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>40</td>
            <td>2009/06/25</td>
            <td>$675,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Caesar Vance</td>
            <td>Pre-Sales Support</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>21</td>
            <td>2011/12/12</td>
            <td>$106,450</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Doris Wilder</td>
            <td>Sales Assistant</td>
            <td>Sidney</td>
            <td>23</td>
            <td>2010/09/20</td>
            <td>$85,600</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Angelica Ramos</td>
            <td>Chief Executive Officer (CEO)</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>47</td>
            <td>2009/10/09</td>
            <td>$1,200,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Gavin Joyce</td>
            <td>Developer</td>
            <td>Edinburgh</td>
            <td>42</td>
            <td>2010/12/22</td>
            <td>$92,575</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Jennifer Chang</td>
            <td>Regional Director</td>
            <td>Singapore</td>
            <td>28</td>
            <td>2010/11/14</td>
            <td>$357,650</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Brenden Wagner</td>
            <td>Software Engineer</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>28</td>
            <td>2011/06/07</td>
            <td>$206,850</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Fiona Green</td>
            <td>Chief Operating Officer (COO)</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>48</td>
            <td>2010/03/11</td>
            <td>$850,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Shou Itou</td>
            <td>Regional Marketing</td>
            <td>Tokyo</td>
            <td>20</td>
            <td>2011/08/14</td>
            <td>$163,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Michelle House</td>
            <td>Integration Specialist</td>
            <td>Sidney</td>
            <td>37</td>
            <td>2011/06/02</td>
            <td>$95,400</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Suki Burks</td>
            <td>Developer</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>53</td>
            <td>2009/10/22</td>
            <td>$114,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Prescott Bartlett</td>
            <td>Technical Author</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>27</td>
            <td>2011/05/07</td>
            <td>$145,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Gavin Cortez</td>
            <td>Team Leader</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>22</td>
            <td>2008/10/26</td>
            <td>$235,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Martena Mccray</td>
            <td>Post-Sales support</td>
            <td>Edinburgh</td>
            <td>46</td>
            <td>2011/03/09</td>
            <td>$324,050</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Unity Butler</td>
            <td>Marketing Designer</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>47</td>
            <td>2009/12/09</td>
            <td>$85,675</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Howard Hatfield</td>
            <td>Office Manager</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>51</td>
            <td>2008/12/16</td>
            <td>$164,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Hope Fuentes</td>
            <td>Secretary</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>41</td>
            <td>2010/02/12</td>
            <td>$109,850</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Vivian Harrell</td>
            <td>Financial Controller</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>62</td>
            <td>2009/02/14</td>
            <td>$452,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Timothy Mooney</td>
            <td>Office Manager</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>37</td>
            <td>2008/12/11</td>
            <td>$136,200</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Jackson Bradshaw</td>
            <td>Director</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>65</td>
            <td>2008/09/26</td>
            <td>$645,750</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Olivia Liang</td>
            <td>Support Engineer</td>
            <td>Singapore</td>
            <td>64</td>
            <td>2011/02/03</td>
            <td>$234,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Bruno Nash</td>
            <td>Software Engineer</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>38</td>
            <td>2011/05/03</td>
            <td>$163,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Sakura Yamamoto</td>
            <td>Support Engineer</td>
            <td>Tokyo</td>
            <td>37</td>
            <td>2009/08/19</td>
            <td>$139,575</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Thor Walton</td>
            <td>Developer</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>61</td>
            <td>2013/08/11</td>
            <td>$98,540</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Finn Camacho</td>
            <td>Support Engineer</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>47</td>
            <td>2009/07/07</td>
            <td>$87,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Serge Baldwin</td>
            <td>Data Coordinator</td>
            <td>Singapore</td>
            <td>64</td>
            <td>2012/04/09</td>
            <td>$138,575</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Zenaida Frank</td>
            <td>Software Engineer</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>63</td>
            <td>2010/01/04</td>
            <td>$125,250</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Zorita Serrano</td>
            <td>Software Engineer</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>56</td>
            <td>2012/06/01</td>
            <td>$115,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Jennifer Acosta</td>
            <td>Junior Javascript Developer</td>
            <td>Edinburgh</td>
            <td>43</td>
            <td>2013/02/01</td>
            <td>$75,650</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Cara Stevens</td>
            <td>Sales Assistant</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>46</td>
            <td>2011/12/06</td>
            <td>$145,600</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Hermione Butler</td>
            <td>Regional Director</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>47</td>
            <td>2011/03/21</td>
            <td>$356,250</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Lael Greer</td>
            <td>Systems Administrator</td>
            <td>London</td>
            <td>21</td>
            <td>2009/02/27</td>
            <td>$103,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Jonas Alexander</td>
            <td>Developer</td>
            <td>San Francisco</td>
            <td>30</td>
            <td>2010/07/14</td>
            <td>$86,500</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Shad Decker</td>
            <td>Regional Director</td>
            <td>Edinburgh</td>
            <td>51</td>
            <td>2008/11/13</td>
            <td>$183,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Michael Bruce</td>
            <td>Javascript Developer</td>
            <td>Singapore</td>
            <td>29</td>
            <td>2011/06/27</td>
            <td>$183,000</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Donna Snider</td>
            <td>Customer Support</td>
            <td>New York</td>
            <td>27</td>
            <td>2011/01/25</td>
            <td>$112,000</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

<hr><a target="_blank" href="https://www.gyrocode.com/projects/jquery-datatables-alphabetsearch/">See full article on Gyrocode.com</a>