Often, you'll receive a list of names broken up into two separate columns, first and last, and need to combine them into a full name. Here's a quick method to easily accomplish this.
Contents:
Formula
Assuming the first names are in column A and last names in column B, this formula will combine both parts into a full name
= A1 & " " & B1This formula will combine both parts of the name, separating them by a space.
If you would like to separate them with a comma and space, you can change the formula like so:
= A1 & ", " & B1Explanation
In Excel, the "&" sign is used to concatenate, or join, two or more strings of text together. When used on two cells, you combine the contents of both.
For example, if you have a string "John" in cell A1 and a string "Smith" in cell B1, you can use the concatenation formula = A1&B1 to join them together and display "JohnSmith" in another cell.
In our case though we want a space to appear between both names so we can add a " " between A1 and B1 like in the formula = A1 & " " & B1 to display "John Smit
Examples
1. How to Combine a First and Last Name Into One Cell
If we have a list of first names in column A, and last names in column B, , we can use the following formula to combine them into a complete full name:
= B3 & " " & C3This formula will combine the contents in A1 and A2, with a space separating them.
The TEXTJOIN function may also be used to join them like so:
= TEXTJOIN(" ",, A1:B1)2. How to Combine a First, Middle, and Last Name into One Cell
Similarly, if we have a first, middle, and last name, we can use the same method as the previous example, using the below formula:
= B12 & " " & C12 & " " & D12In this case however, the TEXTJOIN function may be the better option as it will eliminate some of the repetitive typing from the previous function and allow you to combine as many cells as you like with ease:
= TEXTJOIN(" ",, A1:C1)