alternative solution to too many JOINs - sql

Question

There is a table containing all names:
CREATE TABLE Names(
Name VARCHAR(20)
)
And there are multiple tables with similar schema.
Let's say:
CREATE TABLE T1
(
Name VARCHAR(20),
Description VARCHAR(30),
Version INT
)
CREATE TABLE T2
(
Name VARCHAR(20),
Description VARCHAR(30),
Version INT
)
I need to query description for each name, by following priority:
any records in T1 with matching name and version = 1
any records in T1 with matching name and version = 2
any records in T2 with matching name and version = 1
any records in T2 with matching name and version = 2
I want result from lower priority source only if there are no result from higher priority source.
So far that's I've got:
SELECT
N.Name AS Name, Description =
CASE
WHEN (T11.Description IS NOT NULL) THEN T11.Description
WHEN (T12.Description IS NOT NULL) THEN T12.Description
WHEN (T21.Description IS NOT NULL) THEN T21.Description
WHEN (T22.Description IS NOT NULL) THEN T22.Description
ELSE NULL
END
FROM Names AS N
LEFT JOIN T1 AS T11 ON T11.Name = N.Name AND T11.Version = 1
LEFT JOIN T1 AS T12 ON T12.Name = N.Name AND T12.Version = 2
LEFT JOIN T2 AS T21 ON T21.Name = N.Name AND T21.Version = 1
LEFT JOIN T2 AS T22 ON T22.Name = N.Name AND T22.Version = 2
It's working, but are there too much JOIN here? Is there any better approach?
sqlfiddle
Sample Input:
INSERT INTO Names VALUES('name1')
INSERT INTO Names VALUES('name2')
INSERT INTO Names VALUES('name3')
INSERT INTO Names VALUES('name4')
INSERT INTO Names VALUES('name5')
INSERT INTO Names VALUES('name6')
INSERT INTO T1 VALUES ('name1','name1_T1_1', 1)
INSERT INTO T1 VALUES ('name2','name2_T1_1', 1)
INSERT INTO T1 VALUES ('name3','name3_T1_1', 1)
INSERT INTO T1 VALUES ('name3','name3_T1_2', 2)
INSERT INTO T1 VALUES ('name5','name5_T1_2', 2)
INSERT INTO T2 VALUES ('name1','name1_T2_1', 1)
INSERT INTO T2 VALUES ('name4','name4_T2_1', 1)
Excepted result:
--
-- Excepted result:
-- Name Description
-- name1 name1_T1_1
-- name2 name2_T1_1
-- name3 name3_T1_1
-- name4 name4_T2_1
-- name5 name5_T1_2
-- name6 NULL

Answer 1

Well, this is a solution to eliminate the case statement and minimize the repetitive part of the query, it requires some joins of it's own of course, so you'd need quite some tables and/or versions to get any real benefit out of it:
;WITH
AllDescriptions AS
(
SELECT 1 AS Rank, * FROM T1
UNION ALL SELECT 2 AS Rank, * FROM T2
-- UNION ALL SELECT 3 AS Rank, * FROM T3
-- UNION ALL SELECT 4 AS Rank, * FROM T4
-- etc
),
Ranks AS
(
SELECT
AllDescriptions.Name,
MIN(AllDescriptions.Rank) AS Rank
FROM
AllDescriptions
GROUP BY
Name
),
Versions AS
(
SELECT
AllDescriptions.Name,
AllDescriptions.Rank,
MIN(AllDescriptions.Version) AS Version
FROM
AllDescriptions
INNER JOIN Ranks
ON Ranks.Name = AllDescriptions.Name
AND Ranks.Rank = AllDescriptions.Rank
GROUP BY
AllDescriptions.Name,
AllDescriptions.Rank
),
Descriptions AS
(
SELECT
AllDescriptions.Name,
AllDescriptions.Description
FROM
AllDescriptions
INNER JOIN Versions
ON Versions.Name = AllDescriptions.Name
AND Versions.Rank = AllDescriptions.Rank
AND Versions.Version = AllDescriptions.Version
)
SELECT
Names.*,
Descriptions.Description
FROM
Names
LEFT OUTER JOIN Descriptions
ON Descriptions.Name = Names.Name

Answer 2

Try this query and it will also give you the expected result.
SELECT N.name AS Name,
Description =
CASE
WHEN ( t1.description IS NOT NULL ) THEN t1.description
WHEN ( t2.description IS NOT NULL ) THEN t2.description
ELSE NULL
END
FROM names AS N
LEFT JOIN t1
ON t1.name = N.name
AND t1.version IN( 1, 2 )
LEFT JOIN t2
ON t2.name = N.name
AND t2.version IN ( 1, 2 )

Answer 3

select n.name, isnull(d.description,d1.Description) description
from Names n
outer apply (select top 1 t1.Name, t1.Description
from T1
WHERE t1.Name = n.name
order by Version asc
) d
outer apply (select top 1 t2.Name, t2.Description
from T2
WHERE t2.Name = n.name
order by Version asc
) d1