Project for Beginners: Can it be down in a better way?

[M.S.]

How the following code can be rewritten in a better way?

 #!/usr/bin/env python

"""Simple program for finding popular names
over last 100 years, in response to vegaseat's
last post in Projects for Beginners(9/1/2012).

It first lists the popular names and then search
for entered name by user"""

oldnames = """Mary,Helen,Margaret,Anna,Ruth
Elizabeth,Dorothy,Marie,Florence,Mildred
Alice,Ethel,Lillian,Gladys,Edna
Frances,Rose,Annie,Grace,Bertha
Emma,Bessie,Clara,Hazel,Irene
Gertrude,Louise,Catherine,Martha,Mabel
Pearl,Edith,Esther,Minnie,Myrtle
Ida,Josephine,Evelyn,Elsie,Eva
Thelma,Ruby,Agnes,Sarah,Viola
Nellie,Beatrice,Julia,Laura,Lillie
Lucille,Ella,Virginia,Mattie,Pauline
Carrie,Alma,Jessie,Mae,Lena
Willie,Katherine,Blanche,Hattie,Marion
Lucy,Stella,Mamie,Vera,Cora
Fannie,Eleanor,Bernice,Jennie,Ann
Leona,Beulah,Lula,Rosa,Ada
Ellen,Kathryn,Maggie,Doris,Dora
Betty,Marguerite,Violet,Lois,Daisy
Anne,Sadie,Susie,Nora,Georgia
Maude,Marjorie,Opal,Hilda,Velma"""

newnames = """Emily,Madison,Emma,Hannah,Abigail
Olivia,Ashley,Samantha,Alexis,Sarah
Elizabeth,Isabella,Alyssa,Grace,Lauren
Taylor,Jessica,Brianna,Kayla,Sophia
Anna,Natalie,Victoria,Chloe,Sydney
Jasmine,Hailey,Megan,Rachel,Morgan
Julia,Destiny,Ava,Jennifer,Kaitlyn
Mia,Katherine,Alexandra,Haley,Savannah
Nicole,Maria,Allison,Mackenzie,Stephanie
Brooke,Amanda,Ella,Makayla,Faith
Kaylee,Jenna,Andrea,Katelyn,Mary
Jordan,Gabrielle,Rebecca,Paige,Madeline
Kimberly,Trinity,Zoe,Michelle,Sara
Lily,Kylie,Alexa,Caroline,Vanessa
Amber,Angelina,Gabriella,Lillian,Riley
Sierra,Danielle,Leah,Jada,Autumn
Erin,Maya,Ariana,Audrey,Isabel
Sofia,Marissa,Bailey,Jacqueline,Melissa
Claire,Evelyn,Shelby,Jocelyn,Mariah
Avery,Leslie,Melanie,Arianna,Aaliyah"""



old_names = [name.lower() for name in (oldnames.replace("\n", ",").split(","))]

new_names = [name.lower() for name in (newnames.replace("\n", ",").split(","))]


def find_name():
    print "Popullar names in last 100 years:"
    for name in new_names:
        if name in old_names:
            print name
    print "*"*50

    name = raw_input("Enter a name:").lower()

    if (name in old_names) and (name in new_names):
        print name, "is still a popullar name over 100 years"
    elif (name in old_names) and not (name in new_names):
        print name, "is an old name"
    elif (name in new_names) and not (name in old_names):
        print name, "is a new name"
    else:
        print name, "is not in the lists"

find_name()

[Lardmeister]

Interesting project.
You can also do this with sets and use set_oldnames.intersection(set_newnames).
I tried it and got 11 names to match.

[TrustyTony]

@Lardmeister:
So do I

oldnames = ','.join("""Mary,Helen,Margaret,Anna,Ruth
Elizabeth,Dorothy,Marie,Florence,Mildred
Alice,Ethel,Lillian,Gladys,Edna
Frances,Rose,Annie,Grace,Bertha
Emma,Bessie,Clara,Hazel,Irene
Gertrude,Louise,Catherine,Martha,Mabel
Pearl,Edith,Esther,Minnie,Myrtle
Ida,Josephine,Evelyn,Elsie,Eva
Thelma,Ruby,Agnes,Sarah,Viola
Nellie,Beatrice,Julia,Laura,Lillie
Lucille,Ella,Virginia,Mattie,Pauline
Carrie,Alma,Jessie,Mae,Lena
Willie,Katherine,Blanche,Hattie,Marion
Lucy,Stella,Mamie,Vera,Cora
Fannie,Eleanor,Bernice,Jennie,Ann
Leona,Beulah,Lula,Rosa,Ada
Ellen,Kathryn,Maggie,Doris,Dora
Betty,Marguerite,Violet,Lois,Daisy
Anne,Sadie,Susie,Nora,Georgia
Maude,Marjorie,Opal,Hilda,Velma""".splitlines())

newnames = ','.join("""Emily,Madison,Emma,Hannah,Abigail
Olivia,Ashley,Samantha,Alexis,Sarah
Elizabeth,Isabella,Alyssa,Grace,Lauren
Taylor,Jessica,Brianna,Kayla,Sophia
Anna,Natalie,Victoria,Chloe,Sydney
Jasmine,Hailey,Megan,Rachel,Morgan
Julia,Destiny,Ava,Jennifer,Kaitlyn
Mia,Katherine,Alexandra,Haley,Savannah
Nicole,Maria,Allison,Mackenzie,Stephanie
Brooke,Amanda,Ella,Makayla,Faith
Kaylee,Jenna,Andrea,Katelyn,Mary
Jordan,Gabrielle,Rebecca,Paige,Madeline
Kimberly,Trinity,Zoe,Michelle,Sara
Lily,Kylie,Alexa,Caroline,Vanessa
Amber,Angelina,Gabriella,Lillian,Riley
Sierra,Danielle,Leah,Jada,Autumn
Erin,Maya,Ariana,Audrey,Isabel
Sofia,Marissa,Bailey,Jacqueline,Melissa
Claire,Evelyn,Shelby,Jocelyn,Mariah
Avery,Leslie,Melanie,Arianna,Aaliyah""".splitlines())


common = set(oldnames.split(',')) & set(newnames.split(','))
print len(common),  ':',  ', '.join(sorted(common))

[Lardmeister]

The set is a little bit more accurate. since 'in' can find for instance 'Sara' in 'Sarah'

[M.S.]

Interesting! thanks for the better and more accurate solution.
btw, my code only found 5 matches! I'm confused. whould you please explain what is wrong?

[vegaseat]

Running your program with Python27 gives 11 matches. Which is correct, since you are looking for a name in a list of names.

[vegaseat]

To beat this thing to death ...

print('Sara' in 'Sarah')  # True

# however ...
mylist = ['Sarah']
print('Sara' in mylist)  # False

# more ...
for name in mylist:
    print('Sara' in name)  # True