I have a form that has txt.mail_name. At first mail_name is copied in from another source and it is something like 'JOHNSON FRANK L & DORIS M", or 'JOHNSON FRANK L & STIEN DORIS M' once it is edited it becomes something like 'Frank & Doris Johnson'. The editing is done by hand so it is never exact. I am trying to prevent duplicate mail_name in my table. Looking for ideas on how to prevent this.

Thinking that I could find the last name and then show a browse window of other matching last names.

Guess that if mail_name is still in upper case, I know that the last name is the first word. And if mail_name is in proper case I know that the last word is a last name and if there are two words before the ' & ' is probablu a last name.

Does anyone have any ideas or tips on preventing duplcate names?

Brenda