Two Choices is One Too Many

Run a search in Contacts, and see if there are two entries for dearest Joe? It’s quite possible to get duplicate entries in different address books, and all selected sources will show up when queried.

What’s probably happened here is a lack of groups. iPhone doesn’t have a way to add groups, that involves iCloud or macOS. Which means you don’t have any groups. This is what I’d expect at the top of Contacts, with groups present:

Which iOS version are you using here? iOS and iPadOS 13.5 are the most current.

Does a search for the entry—without regard to groups—show duplicate entries?

At least one case of duplicates cab]n be a “contact Apple Support” case:

If you see duplicate contacts after setting up iCloud Contacts - Apple Support

Open Contacts.app.

Select the Groups in the upper left, and enable all groups on all servers.

Then select the search box, and enter the recipient’s name.

How many hits? I’d expect two hits, based on what you’re reporting.

iOS 13.5 is current.

The cited link (also) indicates that these dups might appear in iCloud, and that’s a contact-Apple case.

And since you used the dreaded-whilst-debugging phrase “I think”, do go verify that.

You have posted in the Catalina forum. I’ve asked the moderators to move this to the iPhone forum.