foreach $pair (@pairs) {
  ($key,$value) = split (/=/, $pair);
  chomp $value;

  # compile pattern to match $key with qr//
  my $match = qr/\b\Q$key\E\b/;

  # serach and replace names and push onto @newrecords
  foreach (@names) {
    s/$match/$value/gi;
    push @newrecords, $_;
  }
}