I am working on a requirement to match people from different databases. One tricky problem is variance in names like Bob - Robert, Jim - James, Lizzy - Elizabeth etc across databases.
Is there a lookup/translation available for this kind of a requirement.
You'd need to implement a lookup table with the alternate names in it:
Base | Alternate
----------------
Robert | Bob
Elizabeth | Liz
Elizabeth | Lizzy
Elizabeth | Beth
Then search the database for the base name and all alternates. You'll end up with a number of multiple matches which will then need to be checked to see if they really match based on a comparison of whatever other data you have in the two databases. Maybe the dates of the records in each database could be used - records entered close in time indicate the same person.
Take a look at my answer (as well as the others) here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/46007/tools-for-matching-name-address-data/47271#47271