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

Employee table has column "Name" and we had to split it into First, Middle and Last Name. This query will handle to keep middle name as null if name column has value of two words like 'James Thomas'.

UPDATE Employees
SET [First Name] = CASE 
        WHEN (len(name) - len(Replace(name, '.', ''))) = 2
            THEN PARSENAME(Name, 3)
        WHEN (len(name) - len(Replace(name, '.', ''))) = 1
            THEN PARSENAME(Name, 2)
        ELSE PARSENAME(Name, 1)
        END
    ,[Middle Name] = CASE 
        WHEN (len(name) - len(Replace(name, '.', ''))) = 2
            THEN PARSENAME(Name, 2)
        ELSE NULL
        END
    ,[Last Name] = CASE 
        WHEN (len(name) - len(Replace(name, '.', ''))) = 2
            THEN PARSENAME(Name, 1)
        WHEN (len(name) - len(Replace(name, '.', ''))) = 1
            THEN PARSENAME(Name, 1)
        ELSE NULL
        END GO

UPDATE Employee
SET [Name] = Replace([Name], '.', ' ') GO