sql parse full name field into first, middle, last, and suffix - sql-server-2008

Question

I'm trying to split full names into last, first, middle, and suffix. I searched but couldn't find the exact the same format as mine. I have the following code, but I'm getting this error when running the full select.
Msg 537, Level 16, State 3, Line 1
Invalid length parameter passed to the LEFT or SUBSTRING function.
SpaceComma table gets the correct indexes.
This is the format of the names I have:
CREATE TABLE #myfullnames (fullName VARCHAR(50))
GO
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('BROOK SR, JAMES P.')
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('BLOCK JR., BILL V.')
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('MOOR, CLODE M.')
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('SOUDER III, Laurence R.')
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('SOUDER, WILL' )
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('KOLIV, Kevin E.')
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('Simk, JR. Thomas Todd')
INSERT #myfullnames VALUES ('Polio, Gary R.')
I would appreciate your help. Thanks.
select SplitNames.LastName, SplitNames.FirstName,
SplitNames.MiddleName, SplitNames.Title
from (
select [fullName]
, substring([fullName], 1, SpceTitle-1) as LastName
, substring([fullName], SpceMid,(SpceMid - SpceFirstName - 1)) as FirstName
, substring([fullName], SpaceComma.SpceTitle, (SpaceComma.SpceFirstName -
SpaceComma.SpceTitle)) as Title
, nullif(substring([fullName],SpaceComma.SpceMid+1,100),'') as
MiddleName
from (
select [fullName],
charindex(',',[fullName]) as Comma,
charindex(' ',[fullName]+space(1),charindex(',',[fullName])) as
SpceFirstName,
(len([fullName]) + 1 - charindex(' ',reverse([fullName]), 0)) as
SpceMid,
charindex(' ',[fullName], charindex (' ',reverse([fullName]))) as SpceTitle
from #myfullnames
) SpaceComma
) SplitNames
DROP TABLE #myfullnames

Answer 1

The data in your example does not follow any fixed set of rules so there will not be a perfect solution for parsing the names. An example of the rule violation is between "Simk" and "BLOCK" in that the "JR" is inside the comma on one and not the other. The only solution to the rule violation is to manually correct the violators.
We can parse the name using the "PARSENAME" function in SQL Server. SQL Server uses PARSENAME to seperate the SERVERNAME.DATABASE.SCHEMA.TABLE and is limited to four parts.
Here is a query which parses the names
select fullname
, REPLACE(fullname,'.','') AS [1]
, REPLACE(REPLACE(fullname,'.',''),', ','.') AS [2]
, ParseName(REPLACE(REPLACE(fullname,'.',''),', ','.'),2) AS [3]
, REPLACE(ParseName(REPLACE(REPLACE(fullname,'.',''),', ','.'),1),' ','.') AS [4]
, PARSENAME(REPLACE(ParseName(REPLACE(REPLACE(fullname,'.',''),', ','.'),1),' ','.'),1) AS [5]
, PARSENAME(REPLACE(ParseName(REPLACE(REPLACE(fullname,'.',''),', ','.'),1),' ','.'),2) AS [6]
from #myfullnames
The six output columns demonstrate the use of replacing characters with the "." then using PARSENAME to extract a portion of the string.