Convert Unicode strings to nearest US ASCII equivalent by dropping accents, like an manual entries into an old ASCII name database would.
see
text_to_id("Montréal, über, 12.89, Mère, Françoise, noël, 889")
'montreal_uber_1289_mere_francoise_noel_889'
José Jose Tomáš, and Matyáš Adéla, and Natálie Novák Dvořák Černý Jörg Sébastien