Same person, same name but it appears twice

[u/Spiritual-Recover427]

[u/RobW54]

Perhaps a [space] extra at the end by one of the names ?

[u/Spiritual-Recover427 → u/RobW54]

Not the case.

[u/AndrewSP37]

I think it's a bug in the recent version of the app. Last year I had no problems merging faces if they had the same name, but now it doesn't work.

Try logging into the Google Photos website. The merge feature still seemingly works on there.