Would this work?

[brianN]

$sql = 'SELECT name FROM table WHERE condition; SELECT name FROM another table WHERE same condition;

[nnichols]

I'm not sure if it would work (not return an error), but it would be pointless as you would be unable to access the first result set.

Use two separate queries.

[K0ma]

I am not sure if this will produce the results that you want but
this is how I would simplify your query.

SELECT name FROM table, another table
WHERE condition

k0ma

[nnichols]

That wouldn't work because 'name' would be ambiguous. You could use something like this -

SELECT a.name, b.name
FROM table a, another_table b
WHERE condition for a
AND condition for b

[brianN]

Would that work on MySQL?