Find if two different strings (names) are similar enough to make it a single person's name.

similarish.py

import re, itertools

def similarish(string1, string2):
    """
    Find if two different strings (names) are similar enough to make it a single person's name.
    Input
        string1 : a person's full/partial name
        string2 : same person's full/partial name or different formatting from name1
    Output
        Boolean
            True - if the names are similar
            False - if names are different
    Examples
        similarish("Anoop Thomas Mathew", "anoop mathew")  # True
        similarish("John Doe", "John D.")  # True
        similarish("Bart Lorang", "Bartholomew Lorang")  # True
        similarish("Sum Ting Wong", "Bart Lorang")  # False
        similarish("Joana Doe", "John Doe")  # False
        
    Tested with Python 3.5.x / Python 2.7.x
    """
    a = re.sub('[^A-z0-9 ]', '', string1).lower().split()
    b = re.sub('[^A-z0-9 ]', '', string2).lower().split()
    count = 0; length_a = len(a); length_b = len(b)
    if length_a > length_b: a,b = b,a
    for substring_a, substring_b in itertools.product(a, b):
        if substring_a == substring_b or substring_a in substring_b or substring_b in substring_a:
            count += 1
    return count >= min(length_a, length_b)