The black man with a mohawk swiftly dodges the brown eyed 
woman's pierces.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE muclient>

<muclient>
<plugin
   name="Name_Replacer"
   author="Nick Gammon"
   id="1da8552e375d743024b3e4d0"
   language="Lua"
   purpose="Substitutes names in incoming data"
   date_written="2014-08-09 08:15"
   requires="4.80"
   version="1.0"
   >

</plugin>

<!--  Script  -->

<script>
<![CDATA[

names = { 
 ["black man with a mohawk"] = "Name1",
 ["brown eyed woman"] = "Name2",
 ["crazy guy"] = "Name3",
 ["shuffling zombie"] = "Name4",
 
 -- more here ...
 
 } -- end of table 


-- replace a string (eg. "black man with a mohawk") with itself followed by
-- the person's name from the names table, in brackets.

function fixup (what)
  local replacement = names [what]
  
  -- give up if not found
  if not replacement then 
    return nil 
  end
  return what .. " (" .. replacement .. ")"
end -- fixup

function OnPluginPacketReceived (s)
  
  -- search for all names in the table and call fixup function if found
  for k, v in pairs (names) do
    s = string.gsub (s, k, fixup)
  end -- for each name
    
  return s
end  -- OnPluginPacketReceived

]]>
</script>

</muclient>

The black man with a mohawk swiftly dodges the brown eyed woman's pierces.

I'd like to get it to only color the description and adding the name of the crazy guy resulting in a shuffling zombie.

The black man with a mohawk (Name1) swiftly dodges the brown eyed woman (Name2)'s pierces.
I'd like to get it to only color the description and adding the name of the crazy guy (Name3) resulting in a shuffling zombie (Name4).

function fixup (what)
  local replacement = names [what]
  
  -- give up if not found
  if not replacement then 
    return nil 
  end
  return what .. " (" .. ANSI (31) .. replacement .. ANSI (37) .. ")"
end -- fixup

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE muclient>

<muclient>
<plugin
   name="Name_Replacer"
   author="Nick Gammon"
   id="1da8552e375d743024b3e4d0"
   language="Lua"
   purpose="Substitutes names in incoming data"
   date_written="2014-08-09 08:15"
   date_modified="2014-08-12 07:12"
   requires="4.80"
   version="2.0"
   >

</plugin>

<!--  Script  -->

<script>
<![CDATA[

-- returns a function which does the correct replacement
function funcMaker (replacement)
  return function (what)
    return what .. " (" .. ANSI (31) .. replacement .. ANSI (37) .. ")"
  end -- fixup
end -- function funcMaker

names = { 
 ["black man with a mohawk"]  = funcMaker ("Name1"),
 ["brown eyed woman"]         = funcMaker ("Name2"),
 ["crazy guy"]                = funcMaker ("Name3"),
 ["shuffling zombie"]         = funcMaker ("Name4"),
 ["marred, dusky-toned male"] = funcMaker ("Name5"),
 
 -- more here ...
 
 } -- end of table 

-- fix up search strings
namesFixed = {}
for k, v in pairs (names) do
  namesFixed [string.gsub (k, "[%%%]%^%-$().[*+?]", "%%%1")] = v
end -- for

function OnPluginPacketReceived (s)
  for k, v in pairs (namesFixed) do
    s = string.gsub (s, k, v)
  end -- for each name
  return s
end  -- OnPluginPacketReceived

]]>
</script>

</muclient>

The black man with a mohawk swiftly dodges the brown eyed woman's pierces.

I'd like to get it to only color the description and adding the name of the crazy guy resulting in a shuffling zombie.

I see a marred, dusky-toned male here.

The black man with a mohawk (Name1) swiftly dodges the brown eyed woman (Name2)'s pierces.

I'd like to get it to only color the description and adding the name of the crazy guy (Name3) resulting in a shuffling zombie (Name4).

I see a marred, dusky-toned male (Name5) here.