SQL: parse the first, middle and last name from a fullname field

Question

How do I parse the first, middle, and last name out of a fullname field with SQL?

I need to try to match up on names that are not a direct match on full name. I\'d

Answer 1

Are you sure the Full Legal Name will always include First, Middle and Last? I know people that have only one name as Full Legal Name, and honestly I am not sure if that's their First or Last Name. :-) I also know people that have more than one Fisrt names in their legal name, but don't have a Middle name. And there are some people that have multiple Middle names.

Then there's also the order of the names in the Full Legal Name. As far as I know, in some Asian cultures the Last Name comes first in the Full Legal Name.

On a more practical note, you could split the Full Name on whitespace and threat the first token as First name and the last token (or the only token in case of only one name) as Last name. Though this assumes that the order will be always the same.