# How Contact Name Normalization works?

{% hint style="info" %}
Name analysis relies on the standard `Contact.Name` field
{% endhint %}

## Normalization Strategies

Name normalization is modular and configurable. Each strategy can be set independently, and multiple strategies can be combined for robust normalization. The main strategies are:

* **Casing Strategy**
* **Character Strategy** 
* **Spacing Strategy** 
* **Block Removal Strategy** 

Each strategy is described below, with possible values and examples.

### Casing Strategy (default: `"identity"`)

Specifies how the casing of the name should be normalized.

| Value        | Description                                                           | Example Input | Example Output |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| `identity`   | No changes to the casing.                                             | Jean          | Jean           |
| `uppercase`  | Converts all characters to uppercase.                                 | jean          | JEAN           |
| `lowercase`  | Converts all characters to lowercase.                                 | Jean          | jean           |
| `capitalize` | Capitalizes the first letter of each word.                            | jean smith    | Jean Smith     |
| `name`       | Capitalizes the first letter of each word and handles name particles. | jean mcdoNALD | Jean McDonald  |

### Character Strategy (default: `"identity"`)

Defines the strategy for character validation and filtering.

| Value            | Description                                                                                                        | Example Input | Example Output |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------- | -------------- |
| `identity`       | No changes to the characters.                                                                                      | Je1an-朙-李@#.  | Je1an-朙-李@#.   |
| `latin-name`     | Keeps only Latin alphabet (with accents) and valid name punctuation. Removes symbols, numbers, emojis, etc.        | Je1an-朙.#️⃣   | Jean-          |
| `universal-name` | Keeps all alphabets (Latin, Cyrillic, Chinese, etc.) and valid name punctuation. Removes symbols, numbers, emojis. | Je1an-朙-李.#️⃣ | Jean-朙-李       |

### Spacing Strategy (default: `"identity"`)

Specifies how spacing should be normalized in the name.

| Value       | Description                                   | Example Input  | Example Output |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------- | -------------- | -------------- |
| `identity`  | No changes to spacing.                        | Jean           | Jean           |
| `trim`      | Trims leading and trailing spaces.            | " Jean "       | "Jean"         |
| `normalize` | Replaces multiple spaces with a single space. | " Jean Smith " | " Jean Smith " |
| `clean`     | Combines both `trim` and `normalize`.         | " Jean Smith " | "Jean Smith"   |

### Block Removal Strategy (default: `"identity"`)

Defines how blocks of text (such as titles, text within parentheses, or text after a comma) should be removed.

| Value      | Description                                                      | Example Input                 | Example Output                |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------- |
| `identity` | No block removal.                                                | Dr. Jean Smith (Ph.D), France | Dr. Jean Smith (Ph.D), France |
| `remove`   | Removes titles, text within parentheses, and text after a comma. | Dr. Jean Smith (Ph.D), France | Jean Smith                    |

## Combining Strategies

You can combine any of the above strategies to achieve the desired normalization. For example, to strongly normalize a name, you might use:

* `casing_strategy = "name"`
* `char_strategy = "latin-name"`
* `spacing_strategy = "clean"`
* `block_removal_strategy = "remove"`

## Examples

**Casing Strategy**

* `uppercase`: jean → JEAN
* `capitalize`: jean smith → Jean Smith
* `name`: jean mcdoNALD → Jean McDonald

**Character Strategy**

* `latin-name`: Je1an-朙.#️⃣ → Jean-
* `universal-name`: Je1an-朙-李.#️⃣ → Jean-朙-李

**Spacing Strategy**

* `trim`: " Jean " → "Jean"
* `normalize`: " Jean Smith " → " Jean Smith "
* `clean`: " Jean Smith " → "Jean Smith"

**Block Removal Strategy**

* `remove`: Dr. Jean Smith (Ph.D), France → Jean Smith


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