Is "Jon" "pretty much" like "Jonathan"? Not to a computer.
Is "Jon" "pretty much" like "Jane"? Maybe, to a computer.
Are "Fred E. Brown" and "Fred E. Brown" at the same address in Parma
Idaho the same person? Nope, they're father and son.
Are the names "Adams, Jon E." and "Adam, John" the same name? I don't
know how either a computer OR a human could decide without further
evidence.

You're attributing human intelligence to a lowly software program, and
I don't think it's going to succeed.

                 John W. Vinson[MVP]    

Michael

I think I can safely say that the Access community is cringing for you at
the moment....

Here is some helpful information I would like to pass along.

1. Backup your data.

2. In the table where this data resides, create an additional column called
"WIP"  (for Work In Progress).

3. Copy the contents of the existing names into this new column "WIP".

4. At this point, you will have two columns with the same data.

At this point forward, we are only going to be working with the new column
"WIP".

5. Remove all spaces and punctuation marks from the data.

If you have the following:
   Adams, Jon E                            (1)
   Adams, Jon E.                            (2)
   Adams, Jon E., DDS                (3)

If you notice that (1) and (2) are the same name with exception of the
period on the initial on (2)

You will now get:
   AdamsJonE                                (1)
   AdamsJonE                                (2)
   AdamsJonEDDS                        (3)

If you notice that (1) and (2) are now identical.

6. Now, If you only take the distinct items, then you are left with the
following

   AdamsJonE
   AdamsJonEDDS

Now, this is not an exhaustive approach but it might help you narrow down
the names.

HTH

Rob