1 - Al Bernstein 2 - Ben Stein 3 - Steve Jobs 4 - John Stewart
i don'y want first name because it hasn't word start with these characters but three others are right
From above sample it seems the word you are searching also has one important thing.. its "Ste" i.e "S" is uppercase..
you can simply search so..
auName.contains(s.toString())
where s = "Ste";
or else if you still want to go to search with "ste" then
//check presence of word at start and after apace
if(auName.toLowerCase().startswith(s.toString().toLowerCase()) || auName.toLowerCase().contains(" " + s.toString().toLowerCase())){
//your code
}