How to count cells beginning with specific letter in Excel?

For example, I have a range of cells which contains some names, now, I want to count the number of name cells which beginning with the letter B, how could I solve it in Excel worksheet?

Count cells beginning with specific letter with formulas

Count cells beginning with specific letter with Kutools for Excel

Count cells beginning with specific letter with formulas

The following formulas may help you to get the number of cells which cell value starts with the letter B, and does not start with the letter B.

1. Enter any of the following formulas into a blank cell:

=COUNTIF(A2:A15,"B*")

=SUMPRODUCT((LEFT(A2:A15)="B")*1)

Note: In the above formulas, A2:A15 is the data range that you want to count, and the letter B is the criteria that you want to count begin with.

2. Then press Enter key, and you will get the correct counting result you need, see screenshot:

Tips: If you want to count the number of cells which cell values does not begin with the letter B, you can apply this formula: =SUMPRODUCT((LEFT(A2:A15)<>"B")*(A2:A15<>"")), and press Enter key to get the result. See screenshot:

Count cells beginning with specific letter with Kutools for Excel

If you are tired of the formulas, here, I will talk about you an easy and powerful tool—Kutools for Excel, with its Select Specific Cells utility, you can not only count the cells start with letter B but also select these specific cells.

After installing Kutools for Excel, do with steps:

1. Select the data range you want to use.

2. Click Kutools > Select > Select Specific Cells, see screenshot:

3. In the Select Specific Cells dialog box, choose Cell from the Selection type, and specify Begins with or Does not begin with from the drop down list under Specific type, and then enter the specific letter you want to count, see screenshot:

4. Then click Ok or Apply, a prompt box will pop out to tell you the number of cells which meet your condition, and they will be selected as well. See screenshot:

Click to know more details of this Select Specific Cells feature.