Both solutions, filter and comprehension requires building a new list. I don't know enough of the Python internals to be sure, but I think that a more traditional (but less elegant) approach could be more efficient:
names = ['Jones', 'Vai', 'Smith', 'Perez']
item = 0
while item <> len(names):
name = names [item]
if name=='Smith':
names.remove(name)
else:
item += 1
print names
Anyway, for short lists, I stick with either of the two solutions proposed earlier.
