SQL name string matching -sql server - sql-server

Question

I have a table with data in the form
Date Amount Payer
04/01/2021 50 LARRY BURNS
16/01/2021 46 JOHN SMITH
15/01/2021 35 SUSAN ARTHUR
14/01/2021 28 S. ARTHUR
13/01/2021 21 JO SMITH
12/01/2021 13 LARRY BURNS
11/01/2021 6 SUSAN ARTHUR
I also have another table with data in the form
ID Customer Name Customer Type
10001 LARRY BURNS CU
10002 JOHN SMITH CU
10003 SUSAN ARTHUR CU
The first table which is a transactions table does not have a foreign key to reference the ID from the customer. The only information provided is the Payer column which includes inconsistently spelled names of customers. Is it possible to do some form of 'name matching' as a pseudo-join to allow retrieval of the customer name and ID?
Ideally in the form:
Date Amount Payer Customer Name ID
04/01/2021 50 LARRY BURNS LARRY BURNS 10001
16/01/2021 46 JOHN SMITH JOHN SMITH 10002
15/01/2021 35 SUSAN ARTHUR SUSAN ARTHUR 10003
14/01/2021 28 S. ARTHUR SUSAN ARTHUR 10003
13/01/2021 21 JO SMITH JOHN SMITH 10002
12/01/2021 13 LARRY BURNS LARRY BURNS 10001
11/01/2021 6 SUSAN ARTHUR SUSAN ARTHUR 10003

Answer 1

Given that you're willing to have an allowance for differences, you could try something like the following:
DECLARE #Payer table (
[Date] date, Amount decimal(18,2), Payer varchar(50)
);
INSERT INTO #Payer VALUES
( '01/04/2021', 50, 'LARRY BURNS' ),
( '01/16/2021', 46, 'JOHN SMITH' ),
( '01/15/2021', 35, 'SUSAN ARTHUR' ),
( '01/14/2021', 28, 'S. ARTHUR' ),
( '01/13/2021', 21, 'JO SMITH' ),
( '01/12/2021', 13, 'LARRY BURNS' ),
( '01/11/2021', 6 , 'SUSAN ARTHUR' );
DECLARE #Customer table (
ID int, CustomerName varchar(50), CustomerType varchar(2)
);
INSERT INTO #Customer VALUES
( 10001, 'LARRY BURNS', 'CU' ),
( 10002, 'JOHN SMITH', 'CU' ),
( 10003, 'SUSAN ARTHUR', 'CU' );
SELECT
[Date],
Amount,
Payer,
ID,
CustomerName
FROM #Payer AS payer
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT TOP 1
ID,
CustomerName
FROM #Customer AS c
WHERE
c.CustomerName = payer.Payer
OR
DIFFERENCE ( payer.Payer, c.CustomerName ) >= 3
OR
DIFFERENCE ( c.CustomerName, payer.Payer ) >= 3
) AS customer;
Returns
+------------+--------+--------------+-------+--------------+
| Date | Amount | Payer | ID | CustomerName |
+------------+--------+--------------+-------+--------------+
| 2021-01-04 | 50.00 | LARRY BURNS | 10001 | LARRY BURNS |
| 2021-01-16 | 46.00 | JOHN SMITH | 10002 | JOHN SMITH |
| 2021-01-15 | 35.00 | SUSAN ARTHUR | 10003 | SUSAN ARTHUR |
| 2021-01-14 | 28.00 | S. ARTHUR | 10003 | SUSAN ARTHUR |
| 2021-01-13 | 21.00 | JO SMITH | 10002 | JOHN SMITH |
| 2021-01-12 | 13.00 | LARRY BURNS | 10001 | LARRY BURNS |
| 2021-01-11 | 6.00 | SUSAN ARTHUR | 10003 | SUSAN ARTHUR |
+------------+--------+--------------+-------+--------------+