code:

import sys, os, re

try:
    # we use the name lists in nltk to create person-name matching patterns
    import nltk.data
except ImportError:
    sys.stderr.write("Can't import nltk; can't do name lists.\nSee [url]http://www.nltk.org/.\n[/url]")
    sys.exit(1)
else:
    __MALE_NAME_EXCLUDES = ("Hill",
                          "Ave",
                          )
    __FEMALE_NAME_EXCLUDES = ()
    __FEMALE_NAMES = [x for x in
                      nltk.data.load("corpora/names/female.txt", format="raw").split("\n")
                      if (x and (x not in __FEMALE_NAME_EXCLUDES))]
    __FEMALE_NAMES += [x.upper() for x in __FEMALE_NAMES]
    __MALE_NAMES = [x for x in
                    nltk.data.load("corpora/names/male.txt", format="raw").split("\n")
                    if (x and (x not in __MALE_NAME_EXCLUDES))]
    __MALE_NAMES += [x.upper() for x in __MALE_NAMES]
    __INITS = [chr(x) for x in range(ord('A'), ord('Z'))]

PERSON_PATTERN = re.compile(
    "^((?P<honorific>Mr|Ms|Mrs|Dr|MR|MS|MRS|DR)\.? )?"         # honorific
    "(?P<firstname>" +
    "|".join(__FEMALE_NAMES + __MALE_NAMES + __INITS) + # first name
    ")"
    "( (?P<middlename>([A-Z]\.)|(" +
    "|".join(__FEMALE_NAMES + __MALE_NAMES) +         # middle initial or name
    ")))?"
    " +(?P<lastname>[A-Z][A-Za-z]+)",             # space then last name
    re.MULTILINE)

print PERSON_PATTERN.match("Mr. John Smith")