Split Nicename into FIrst & Last name

this is in continuation of Javascript Regular Expression to attempt to split name into Title/First Name(s)/Last Name

I have first_name & last_name in my database and user can enter his fullname as per designs. Its a single input field where he can enter name in any format e.g.

• Dr. James Watson
• hi开发者_运维百科lly billy
• Sir Lorenzo Von Matterhorn

etc.

now question is, 1. How to instantly validate the name, regex? 2. How to process it into first_name and last_name. I can either use JS or PHP

is there any particular set of rules laid out for such a purpose?

There is no international standard in naming people. But, maybe the North Koreans have one:

Kim + level of devotion to the leader.

People may have multiple first names and even multiple last names.

The order of names might differ even in the same culture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_name (Western Chineses swap first and last to fit the English convention).

There are formal addresses such as Mr. or Sir.

There are academic titles in unlimited combination: Prof., Dr., ..., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title#Academic_titles

There can be generation suffixes (Junior, Senior): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junior_%28suffix%29#Generational_titles

The world's largest name is:

Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfe­schlegelstein­hausenberger­dorffvoraltern­waren­gewissenhaft­schaferswessen­schafewaren­wohlgepflege­und­sorgfaltigkeit­beschutzen­von­angreifen­durch­ihrraubgierigfeinde­welche­voraltern­zwolftausend­jahres­vorandieerscheinen­wander­ersteer­dem­enschderraumschiff­gebrauchlicht­als­sein­ursprung­von­kraftgestart­sein­lange­fahrt­hinzwischen­sternartigraum­auf­der­suchenach­diestern­welche­gehabt­bewohnbar­planeten­kreise­drehen­sich­und­wohin­der­neurasse­von­verstandigmen­schlichkeit­konnte­fortplanzen­und­sicher­freuen­anlebens­langlich­freude­und­ruhe­mit­nicht­ein­furcht­vor­angreifen­von­anderer­intelligent­geschopfs­von­hinzwischen­sternartigraumen, Senior.

If your input field is rectricted to a max number of chars, no worries, this person fortunately has a short name:

Wolfe+585, Senior

In that case you should not forget to allow + and 585 to be valid name chars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfe%2B585,_Senior

Sounds like homework. Seems doubtful in the general case. See http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/

Most web forms have a spot for first name, last name, etc. If it was easy they wouldn't do that.

Yoda says: Invoke the regex!? Descend you will into a hell of special cases. Stop before it is too late.

Dr John Smith

John Smith, PhD

John Smith, MD

Dr John Smith MD

King James VI

James VI, King of Blah Blah Blah, Defender of the Faith

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus

Pope Benedict

Benedict Arnold

Jim Pope

Sister Theresa

Mother Theresa

Mother !@#$%^

Twisted Sister

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

The Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

President George W Bush

W

Boy George

This is a tricky problem with no universal solution -- as others have pointed out. Probably the best approach is to allow the user to enter the title, first name, and last name separely. However, if you really need to do the parsing, there are some simple solutions that might work for at least the most common name formats. Here's one example:

$name = "Dr. James Watson";

// Define the set of allowed titles
$titles = 'dr|dr\.|prof|prof\.|sir';

// If the name is composed of two words separated by a space, assume this is
// first and last name
if (preg_match('/^([[:alpha:]]+) ([[:alpha:]]+)$/', $name, $matches)) {
    $first_name = $matches[1];
    $last_name = $matches[2];
}
// If there are more than two parts, check if the first part is the title
elseif (preg_match('/^(' . $titles . ')? ?([[:alpha:]]+) ([[:alpha:] ]+)$/i', $name, $matches)) {
    $prefix = $matches[1];
    $first_name = $matches[2];
    $last_name = $matches[3];
}
else {
    // Name cannot be parsed
}