> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.cashfree.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Name Match
> Use Cashfree's AI-powered Name Match API to compare two Indian names, handle initials and spelling variations, and decide KYC or payout outcomes confidently.
Cashfree’s Name Match is an AI-powered name comparison API designed specifically for India’s complex naming conventions. It helps businesses instantly verify if two names refer to the same person by returning the following:
* Name match score: `0` to `1`
* Name match category: `Direct Match`, `Partial Match`, or `No Match`
Set custom risk thresholds and automate decisions for KYC, payouts, fraud prevention, and other processes. In India, traditional string-matching algorithms often return inaccurate results because of initials, variations in name order, local spellings, and missing components. These issues can lead to rejection rates of up to 18% and increased operational effort. Name Match is designed to handle these scenarios.
**Key factors behind the Name Match reliability**
* Handles initials, middle names, and abbreviations.
* Understands phonetic and regional spelling variants.
* Recognises missing or extra spaces.
* Supports subset matching such as Harsh Kishore vs HKishore.
* Detects salutation-based name patterns such as Aditya Roy S/O Jatin.
* Considers sequence, gender, and regional norms as it is context aware.
## Key benefits
The following points highlight the key capabilities of Cashfree’s Name Match feature:
* **Built for Indian names**:Trained on over 100 million Indian name records, the model understands initials, salutation formats, and regional variations.
* **Accurate and explainable**: Returns both a match score and a category, enabling you to build rule-based logic around onboarding or rejection.
* **Higher conversion, lower friction**: Reduce false mismatches, improve user onboarding success rates, and cut down on manual reviews.
* **Real-time and scalable**: Integrates with your existing stack to validate names instantly at scale.
## Use cases
The following are key use cases for the Name Match API:
| Business type | Benefits |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Fintech and payments | Prevent fraud and accelerate onboarding |
| KYC and lending | Automate compliance checks and reduce manual overhead |
| E-commerce | Decline suspicious collect requests or wallet withdrawals automatically |
| Payout and reconciliation | Minimise payout failures and automate reconciliation |
| Risk and fraud prevention | Flag name mismatches for deeper review |
## Verifying name match
Follow these steps to verify the Name Match in the Merchant Dashboard:
1. Log in to the [Merchant Dashboard](https://merchant.cashfree.com/auth/login).
2. In the left navigation menu, select Regulated Digital KYC, and then select Name Match.
3. In the input fields, enter the two names you want to compare.
4. Select **Verify** to start the name match check.
5. View the `match score` and `match category` in the popup.
You can also try the [Verify Name Match API](/api-reference/vrs/v2/name-match/name-match) for real-time, programmatic validation.
## Score categorisation
The following table lists the match categories and their corresponding score ranges returned by Name Match.
| Match category | Match score range |
| ---------------------- | ----------------- |
| Direct Match | 1.00 |
| Good Partial Match | 0.85–0.99 |
| Moderate Partial Match | 0.60–0.84 |
| Poor Partial Match | 0.34–0.59 |
| No Match | 0.00–0.33 |
## Examples
The following examples show sample name comparisons, their match scores, and the corresponding match categories.
| Name 1 | Name 2 | Match score | Match category |
| ------------- | ------------------- | ----------- | ---------------------- |
| Rahul Verma | Rahul Verma | 1.00 | Direct Match |
| S K Mishra | Satish Kumar Mishra | 0.92 | Good Partial Match |
| Harsh Kishore | HKishore | 0.84 | Moderate Partial Match |
| Jatin Kumar | Jatin Roy | 0.52 | Poor Partial Match |
| Rakesh Sharma | Ritu Sharma | 0.23 | No Match |
snippets/related-topics-loader.mdx