Yes, I agree. The solution of matching name detection is overly complicated. Let’s scrap that one.
A toggle could work. (Would it be retroactive - as in switching the naming of ALL events in the chat log? Or should it just affect the events when they arrive?)
Another thought that I had was if this can be solved with the Nickname / Alias feature?
Instead of the system trying to render unique names, maybe you should pick them yourself?
nickname Lotus Alpha = Lotus A.
And you have defined a nickname for a character, we show that one instead?