compare similar but unequal strings (names)

compare similar but unequal strings (names)

It was developed to compare similar names in portuguese, but it can be adapted to other languages, or different uses.
I think we can make some presumptions, at least in most occidental languages:
- the strings won't be all abbreviations. It would make no sense regarding names;
- there might be commas or dots;
- names are separated from each other;
- abbreviations may be not (George HW Bush);
- same number of names in strings (Al Unser Jr ~= Al Unser)