Excel Shortcuts - Split Forename and Surname

The following formula are useful when you have one cell containing text which needs to be split up.

One of the most common examples of this is when a persons Forename and Surname are entered in full into a cell.
The formula use various text functions to accomplish the task.Each of the techniques uses the space between the names to identify where to split.

• Finding the First Name

Full Name	First Name
Alan Jones	Alan	=LEFT(C14,FIND(" ",C14,1))
Bob Smith	Bob	=LEFT(C15,FIND(" ",C15,1))
Carol Williams	Carol	=LEFT(C16,FIND(" ",C16,1))

  

• Finding the Last Name

• Full Name	Last Name
  Alan Jones	Jones	=RIGHT(C22,LEN(C22)-FIND(" ",C22))
  Bob Smith	Smith	=RIGHT(C23,LEN(C23)-FIND(" ",C23))
  Carol Williams	Williams	=RIGHT(C24,LEN(C24)-FIND(" ",C24))

  
  
• Finding the Last name when a Middle name is present

The formula above cannot handle any more than two names.

If there is also a middle name, the last name formula will be incorrect.

To solve the problem you have to use a much longer calculation.

Full Name	Last Name
Alan David Jones	Jones
Bob John Smith	Smith
Carol Susan Williams	Williams
	=RIGHT(C37,LEN(C37)-FIND("#",SUBSTITUTE(C37," ","#",LEN(C37)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(C37," ","")))))