Separating First and Last Names

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» Separating First and Last Names

CATEGORY: Excel Date & Time Formulas

VERSIONS: All Microsoft Excel Versions

Problem:

Separating the full names in column A into first and last names in columns B and C.

Solution:

To retrieve the first name use the LEFT and FIND functions as shown in the following formula:
=LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2))
To retrieve the last name use the RIGHT, LEN, and FIND functions as shown in the following formula:
=RIGHT(A2,LEN(A2)-FIND(" ",A2))

Screenshot // Separating First and Last Names

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READER COMMENTS (view all comments)

oioio
wrote on June 15, 2005 06:01 EST

oioi

Or...
Hemmo wrote on December 31, 1969 19:00 EST

...you could use'Text to Columns...'

Or...
Hemmo wrote on December 31, 1969 19:00 EST

...you could use'Text to Columns...'

Separating First and Last Names
rscott7706 wrote on May 17, 2006 13:45 EST

Text to columns for a first and last name is a great solution as long as you clean out any residual spaces.

But how do we handle the following:

John Smith
Paula A. Green
John Paul Jones
Jeff John Paul Thomas

The last example is somewhat extreme (and for this conversation could be ignored), but not out of the realm of imagination.

How do we get three columns from a three part name?

:)

TExt to Column command
Julius Biliran wrote on December 31, 1969 19:00 EST

Well, the easier solution could just have been using the "text to column" function.Click on Data menu, and click on Text to Columns. It is really great!

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