# in the real code '.' is my delimiter
# Using 'X' above since it's not a regex metachar

my $first = $1
  if $name =~ m/^ ( [^\\.]* (?: \\(?:.|$) [^\\.]* )* ) /gx;

my (@remainder) =   
  $name =~ m/\G (?:\.) ( [^\\.]* (?: \\(?:.|$) [^\\.]* )* ) /gx;