Ubuntu :: Using Variables In Awk IF Statements?

I have a list of names (testnames.txt) and I have a set of log files (testlogdata.log). I'm trying to search the column in my log file for each of the names in my testnames.txt file, and output the result to individual files, name1.txt, name2.txt, name3.txt, etc the names in the column of my log file can appear in different formats , ie the name "Tom Smith" can appear as "tom_smith", "tom-smith", "ACME/tom.smith", "ACME/thomas.smith". etc. To allow for the variations, I have my names in the testnames.txt as expressions, ie, for tom smith, I use the expression "to.*smith", etc.I'm running the following command:

for i in $(cat testnames.txt); do awk '{if ($9~/$i/) print $0}' testlogdata.log > $ioutput.log; done

I want the command to read a value for i, insert it into the if ($9~/inserted value for i/, and dump each line from testlogdata.log into a file named <value-for-i>output.log.