Companies that are collecting data need to ensure that data is correct in order to gain value from it. It’s easy for a user to fill out a form incorrectly—whether intentionally or accidentally—so to help companies validate the names in their lists, the data company Melissa offers a name verification API called Global Name.

Global Name can recognize over 6,000,000 last names and 4,000,000 first names in multiple countries and languages. It can also split full names into first, middle, and last names, as well as parse out prefixes and suffixes.

By validating names across this large list, companies can correct misspelled first names, format names with proper UTF-8 or accented characters, assign gender based on first names and prefixes, flag vulgar and obviously fake names, like “Bugs Bunny,” and split up dual names, such as “Mr and Mrs John and Mary Jones.”

Queries will return fields such as gender, first name, middle name, last name, prefix, suffix, or nickname. It also returns a result code that can help identify how successful the name parsing was so that customers understand how likely the names are to be real or if errors were detected.

Additionally, it can try to tell the difference between a company name and a person’s name by looking for keywords such as “corporation” or “company.”

More information can be found in the company’s QuickStart guide here.

Melissa also offers a number of different APIs to validate and keep other contact data up-to-date, including:

  • Global Phone: Verifies phone numbers and appends country dialing codes, returns Caller ID information, and checks if the number is active

  • Global Email: Verifies email addresses to improve deliverability by fixing typos in domain names, correcting syntax errors, and performing real-time mailbox validation

  • Global Address: Verifies and standardizes mailing addresses