#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

my @names = [ "Mark K.", "Bob H", "Kurt", "Mary Kay K",
"Mary Jo Z.",  "Mary Jo" ];

foreach my $name ( @names ) {

  my $f_name = $name =~ m/(.*)[a-zA-Z]/;
  print "$f_name \n";

}


#  @names with only first names would look like:
# my @names = [ "Mark", "Bob", "Kurt", "Mary Kay", 
"Mary Jo",  "Mary Jo" ];