NAME

Lingua::EN::Nickname - Genealogical nickname matching (Liz=Beth)

SYNOPSIS

  use Lingua::EN::Nickname;

  # Equivalent first names?
  $score= nickname_eq( $firstn_0, $firstn_1 );

  # Full, expanded, name(s) 
  @roots= nickroot( $firstn );

DESCRIPTION

Nicknames, alternate spellings, and alternate etymological derivations make checking first name equivalence nearly impossible. This module will tell you that 'Maggie', 'Peg', and 'Margaret' are all probably the same name.

SOURCES

USGenWeb Project http://www.usgenweb.com/researchers/nicknames.html
TNGenWeb Project http://www.tngenweb.usit.com/franklin/frannick.htm
Chesnut Family Pages http://www.users.mis.net/~chesnut/pages/nicknams.htm
Ultimate Family Tree http://www.uftree.com/UFT/HowTos/SettingOut/nickname1.html

TODO

Hire a team of experts to provide a more scientific, statistically accurate Name Etymology source file.
Create more phoenetically-based sub-regexes.
Detect simple monosyllabic truncation nicknames, be less certain about them, but match more.
Pay more attention to gender.

AUTHOR

Brian Lalonde, <brian@webcoder.info>

CPAN RT