matchnames(3)
NAME
Lingua::EN::MatchNames - Smart matching for human names.
SYNOPSIS
use Lingua::EN::MatchNames; $score= name_eq( $firstn_0, $lastn_0, $firstn_1, $lastn_1 );
DESCRIPTION
You have two databases of person records that need to be
synchronized or matched up, but they use different
keys--maybe one uses SSN and the other uses employee id.
The only fields you have to match on are first and last
name.
That's what this module is for.
Just feed the first and last names to the "name_eq()"
function, and it returns "undef" for no possible match,
and a percentage of certainty (rank) otherwise. The rank
ing system isn't very scientific, and gender isn't consid
ered, though it probably should be.
The "name_eq()" function, checks for:
· inconsistent case (MacHenry = Machenry = MACHENRY)
· inconsistent symbols (O'Brien = Obrien = O BRIEN)
· misspellings (Grene = Green)
· last name hyphenation (Smith-Curry = Curry)
· similar phonetics (Hanson = Hansen)
· nicknames (Midge = Peggy = Margaret)
· extraneous initials (H. Ross = Ross)
· extraneous suffixes (Reed, Jr. = Reed II = Reed)
· and more...
- Preliminary Tests:
- Homer Simpson HOMER SIMPOSN: 77
Marge Simpson MIDGE SIMPSON: 81
Brian Lalonde BRYAN LA LONDE: 82
Brian Lalonde RYAN LALAND: 72
Peggy MacHenry Midge Machenry: 81
Liz Grene Elizabeth Green: 72
Chuck Reed, Jr. Charles Reed II: 82
Kathy O'Brien Catherine Obrien: 81
Lizzie Hanson Lisa Hanson: 91
H. Ross Perot Ross PEROT: 88
Kathy Smith-Curry KATIE CURRY: 81
Dina Johnson-Warner Dinah J-Warner: 80
Leela Miles-Conrad Leela MilesConrad: 86
C. Renee Smythe Cathy Smythe: 71
Victoria (Honey) Rider HONEY RIDER: 88
Bart Simpson El Barto Simpson: 80
Bart Simpson Lisa Simpson: (no match)
Arthur Dent Zaphod Beeblebrox: (no match)
WARNING
The scoring in this version is utterly arbitrary. I made
all of the numbers up. The certainty percentages should
be OK relative to each other, but would be better if some
one could give me some statistical data.
Be sure and test this against your data first! Your data
may not look like my test data.
And although I hope this is useful to many, I do not pro
vide any kind of warranty (expressed or implied), and do
not suggest the suitability of this module to any particu
lar purpose. This module probably should not be used for
life support or military purposes, and it must not be used
for unsolicited commercial email or other bulk advertis
ing.
AUTHOR
Brian Lalonde, <brian@webcoder.info>
REQUIREMENTS
Lingua::EN::NameParse, Lingua::EN::Nickname, Parse::RecDe
scent, String::Approx, Text::Metaphone, Text::Soundex
SEE ALSO
- perl(1), Lingua::EN::NameParse, Lingua::EN::Nickname,
String::Approx, Text::Metaphone, Text::Soundex