Python joining strings fails

I have an odd problem with my code and cannot find the mistake.

I am trying the reverse names in "SURNAME, First Names, Religious Title" format to "First Names Surname" and have written the following lines of code:

    try:
      for x in range(0, df_length):
          print(df_length - x)
          e_df=df.iloc[[x]].fillna("@") # virtual value to avoid issues with empty data frames

          # CLEAN PERSON NAMES

          pers_name=e_df['pers_name'].values[0]
          print(pers_name)
          if "," in pers_name:
            pers_new=pers_name.split(",")
            first_name=pers_new[1].strip()
            print(first_name)
            last_name=pers_new[0].title().strip() # change "all caps" to sentence case
            print(last_name)
            rel_title=pers_new[2].strip()
            name_list=(first_name, last_name)

            try:
              name_reversed=" ".join(name_list) # religious titles are being ignored
              print("This is the new name: ", name_reversed)
            except Exception as e:
              print(e)
          else:
            name_reversed=re.sub("ss+" , " ", pers_name)
          print(name_reversed)
          person_cleaned.append(name_reversed)
    
    except IndexError:
      print("No more names found.")

    # add column with cleaned person names

    print(person_cleaned)
    print(len(person_cleaned))
    df['pers_cleaned']=person_cleaned

    frame_list.append(df)

The input data look like this:

The output I get is this:

7155
 DORSCH, Anton Joseph
Anton Joseph
Dorsch
No more names found.
[]

So I can successfully extract the name components I need and convert the all caps string in the surname to sentence case, but merging the strings to form a new name fails. And then the whole script breaks before moving on to the next name. Did I use the join() function in a wrong (deprecated?) manner?