Recently, a friend asked about fixing an Excel worksheet where subscriber names were in one column. He wanted to separate first and last names in Excel so he could send personalized greetings. In this tutorial, I’ll first show how to use the Convert Text to Columns Wizard. Then we’ll use some Excel formulas and Excel Flash Fill feature to handle exceptions.
Functions Mentioned
After starting with the Text to Columns wizard, I’ll be referencing some Excel functions depending on the name examples. Based on your scenario, you may not need any of them. You can see more about each function if you hover over the name below with your mouse. Clicking the vocabulary card will go to a more detailed page. These functions include:
- IFERROR Function
- LEFT Function
- LEN Function
- MID Function
- RIGHT Function
- REPT Function
- SEARCH Function
- SUBSTITUTE FUNCTION
- TRIM Function
Too Much Data in a Field
It’s easy to create spreadsheets or lists without thinking about how the data will be used. Here are a few examples I’ve seen where too much data was in one column and needed to be split up or parsed.
- Addresses
- Birthdays
- Phone numbers
Having too much data in one field can present problems. In the case of my friend, it restricted personalization. Other times, too much data can present sorting and filtering issues.
The key to solving this problem is to parse or split text based on pattern matching or Excel substrings. The typical separators or delimiters include tabs, semicolons, commas, hyphens, and spaces. For example, if you go to the Data tab, you’ll see a Text to Columns item. Unfortunately, it seems people dismiss this choice because their data is already in columns.
How to Separate First and Last Names in Excel (Wizard)
This solution is the easiest, provided your names are uniform. In other words, you don’t have things like a middle name or initials. The key relies on finding a delimiter, such as a space character which triggers the split. In this case, we can use Excel’s Convert Text to Columns Wizard.
- Right-click the column header to the right of the names you wish to split and select Insert. For example, if your names are in Column A, click Column B. This new blank column is where we will put the Last Name.
- Click the column header of the column you wish to split. In my example, the names are in Column A.
- From the Data tab, select Text to Columns. A data wizard appears.
- Choose the Delimited radio button in the Original data type section.
- Click Next.
- In the Delimiters section, select the item that separates your data. In my example, a space separates the First and Last names.
- Look at the Data preview section. If the data looks correct, click Next.
- Click the first column in the Data preview section and select the Column data format type. I’ve kept the default Destination range.
- Click Finish.
- Label your new column.
How to Separate Names Using Flash Fill
Another easy way to separate cell contents is with flash fill. I did a previous tutorial on using Flash Fill in Excel, so I won’t go into depth here. It offers easy parsing steps where you have consistency. This solution doesn’t require formulas or delimiter options but pattern matching.
It’s best used with the First name and Last name columns. The feature doesn’t rely on formulas or the Text to Columns widget. It does rely on pattern recognition, but you don’t have to define the pattern. It can also be more forgiving than the Text to Columns Wizard. In the screen snap below, you’ll see A4 is a name that doesn’t have a space between the First and Last Name. And A6 uses a hyphen in the Last Name.
The idea behind Flash Fill is that you train Excel with a couple of example entries. Then, based on your entries, Excel will try to fill in the remaining entries. Sometimes, you don’t even need to press the Flash Fill item on the Data menu. It reminds me a little bit of Excel custom lists, except you don’t have to define them.
After I provide my examples in B3 and B4, I can hit the Flash Fill button or use the Ctrl + E keyboard shortcut. Excel will fill in the First name column. We can then train Flash Fill for Last names. I’ve prefilled C3 with a value and C6, which contains a hyphenated last name.
As you’ve probably guessed, it will get tripped up on suffixes. Sorry, Jr.
Outlier Middle Names & Initials
Not long after I solved my friend’s problem, he called to tell me my solution no longer worked. After asking several questions, a small percentage of people put in their middle name or middle initial. I reminded him the earlier solution gave him his needed “first name.” He then told me he was also using the “last name” or surname field. So, having the middle part messed things up for him, and the Text to Columns wizard wasn’t the best solution.
A better solution would be to use Excel formulas that work a bit like the wizard in that we’re searching the cell for spaces. The goal was to get something like the example below.
Searching LEFT for the First Name
One difference in using an Excel formula is that I keep the initial Name (President) field untouched. So, to get at the First name, I’ll use a formula to search within the President cell contents.
- Insert a new column called First to the right of your Name column. In my example, this is column B.
- In cell B2, enter
=LEFT(A2,SEARCH(" ", A2) -1)). - Grab the sizing handle in the lower-right corner and drag it down to copy the formula to other cells.
In this example, I’m searching for the first instance of a space in cell reference A2. Once it’s found, I move left and grab the contents. This works well unless someone with no spaces, like Cher, signs up for my friend’s newsletter.
Handling the Middle Name
I’ll admit I thought this part would be easier. Unfortunately, I don’t have a perfect formula because of outliers. Yes, even US Presidents can be outliers. That’s a fancy way of saying it’s not perfect and didn’t handle Martin Van Buren. The formula parsed the name but made his last name Buren. So I’m putting you on notice; you need to review your results.
You’ll also notice that I’ve used IFERROR in the formula. While it’s not necessary, I didn’t like seeing all the #VALUE cell entries for people that didn’t have a middle name. So, by using IFERROR , I can substitute a space ” ” instead.
- Insert a new column called Middle. In my example, this will be column C.
- In cell C2 enter
=IFERROR(MID(A2,SEARCH(" ",A2,1)+1,SEARCH(" ",A2,SEARCH(" ",A2,1)+1)-SEARCH(" ",A2,1)), " ") - Grab the sizing handle in the lower right corner of cell C2 and drag it down to copy the formula.
Parsing the Last Name
Usually, last names can also be handled by a formula. In this case, I used the formula mentioned by ExcelChamps.
- Insert a new column called Last or Surname.
- Type the formula
=TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",REPT(" ",LEN(A2))),LEN(A2))) - Grab the sizing handle in the lower right corner of cell D2 and drag it down to copy the formula.
Oddball Cases & Add-Ins
Your names list may still have oddball cases where you might want to use a commercial Microsoft Excel add-in like the AbleBits Split Names tool, which is part of their Ultimate Suite if you’ve got a lot of outliers. I’m unsure if it can handle surnames like Van Buren or Van Gogh, but it can help you with suffixes and prefixes.
Example Worksheet with Formulas
One of the things that I realized is that as careful as I think I am in entering formulas, mistakes still happen. For example, in the worksheet referenced below, I was getting an error because one of my fields had a trailing space. I’ve also been guilty of dropping the closing ) on some formulas. The good news is the Excel sample file of US Presidents has the parsed names and formulas.
As you’ll soon learn, there are many methods to seperate names in Excel. The simplest way is to use either the ConvertText to Columns Wizard or Flash Fill. However, unless your list contains just first and last names, you’ll have to delve into using formulas. And, if you’re a Microsoft 365 user, there are newer text functions.