relational database and net structure

The company Microsoft could be referred as "microsoft", "ms" or "m$" etc. We may say these names are alias to one single identity. If you want to store the "alias" relationship, you might have to do it as the following pairs

microsoft      ms 

ms             microsoft

microsoft      m$

m$             microsoft

ms             m$

m$             ms

Or maybe there's a better approach?

From stackoverflow

• You can accomplish this with a "TAG" schema.

  interest
  --------
  iPK
  value
  
  junction
  ---------
  iPK
  aPK
  
  alias
  -------
  aPK
  value
  

• Sure. Don't store a table that shows a bunch of aliases. Instead have each company given one ID number, and use a secondary table to provide the aliases:

  Company table

  CompanyID  PreferredNameID
  12345      934
  

  Name table

  CompanyID  NameID  Alias 
  12345      934     Microsoft
  12345      384     M$
  12345      823     MS
  

  This gives you the ability to have as many aliases as needed, and when you make reports on the company you will reference the preferred name.