#!/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 ) {

  $name =~ s/ [a-zA-Z].?$//;
  print "$name \n";

}

##</code><code>##

Mark
Bob
Kurt
Mary Kay
Mary Jo
Mary