Extracting First Name

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ruan
  • Start date Start date
R

Ruan

Hello,

I was able to extract the Last Name from a string, however I am having
difficulties extracting the First Name, especially when there is a Middle
Initial involved.

Example: Bond, James P.

I just need to extract "James".

Here is my formula I used for extracting the Last Name -
=UPPER(IF(ISNUMBER(FIND(",",A1)),TRIM(LEFT(A1,FIND(",",A1)-1)),TRIM(LEFT(A1,FIND("
",A1)-1))))


Thanks
Ruan
 
=MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1,1)+1,FIND(" ",A1,FIND(" ",A1,1)+1)-FIND(" ",A1,1)-1)

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
Try this for the first word

=IF(ISERR(FIND(" ",A2)),A2,IF(RIGHT(LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1))=",",LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-2),LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1)))


Last word
=IF(ISERR(FIND(" ",A2)),A2,MID(A2,FIND("^^",SUBSTITUTE(A2," ","^^",LEN(A2)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",""))))+1,1024))


This Add-in make it easy to insert the formulas in a new column
http://www.rondebruin.nl/datarefiner.htm
 
The formula will return #VALUE! if cell A1 is empty, or if it contains a
number. I understood it was to contain something like "Bond, James P.", and
you wanted only the "James" part extracted. It's a fairly long formula,
perhaps email word-wrap messed it up......it all goes in one cell.

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
Sorry, I should have been more specific. Not all the names have a Middle
Initial. So, when I don't have a middle initial (Bond, James), your formula
displays an error. Otherwise, it works perfectly for the names with a Middle
Initial.

Ruan
 
Try

=MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,FIND(" ",A1&" ",FIND(" ",A1)-FIND(" ",A1)+1)-1)

--

HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)
 
Perfect. Thank you so much Bob.


Bob Phillips said:
Try

=MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,FIND(" ",A1&" ",FIND(" ",A1)-FIND(" ",A1)+1)-1)

--

HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)
Click to expand...
 
Hi Bob.........

Your formula overcame the OP's objections to my original one, but will
return strange results with different combinations of longer and shorter
names, and with cells containing lastname, firstname middlename
For example:
Washington, Bill returns Bill (as it should)
Washington, Bill P. returns Bill P.
Washington, Bill Percival returns Bill Perciv
Bond, Benjamin returns Benja

This one appears to work better.....
=IF(A1="","",IF(COUNTIF(A1,"*,*")>0,MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1,1)+1,FIND(" ",A1&"
",FIND(" ",A1,1)+1)-FIND(" ",A1,1)-1),A1))


Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
Hi Chuck,

As you know, extracting names can be fraught with problems <vbg>. For
instance, just try your new solution with St. John, Ian

I just supplied a solution to the problem as defined. Personally, I have an
addin that uses regular expressions to split names, but again this works for
names like Bob Phillips, Bill Percival, Ian St John, Baron von Richtofen,
etc, but was not designed for Phillips, Bob, etc.

Nightmare isn't it <vbg>

Bob
 
Hi Bob.........

Yeah, I hear 'ya.... LOL.......they seem to be a moving target...........

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
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