Question

Does Rails find_or_create_by() also update a records attributes if the record is found. If not, is there a simple way to find_or_create a record, and if the record already exists; to update the records attributes

Answer 1

Sounds like you want something that does a create_or_update_by,
which could be these two steps:

my_app_class = ClassName.find_or_initialize_by_name(last_name, first_name).update_attributes
({
   :last_name => self.last_name,
   :first_name => self.first_name,
})