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How to quickly combine the first and last names in one cell in Excel?

Says you have a name roster with listing first names and last names separately in two columns, now you want to create a full name list by combining the two columns. This article is going to show you some quick tricks to combine the first and last names in Excel.
Supposing you have a name roster as the left screenshot shows, and you need to get a full name roster as right screenshot shows:


arrow blue right bubble Combine the first and last names with functions

There are two functions that can combine the first and last names into one cell quickly.

1. =Concatenate(A2, " ",B2)

Step 1: In a blank cell, such as C2, enter the formulas of =Concatenate(A2, " ",B2), see screenshot:

doc-combine-first-last-name3

Step 2: Press Enter key and click the Cell C2, then drag the fill handle to copy the formulas across the range that you want to fill. Then you will get a single full name column with combining the first name column and last name column.

doc-combine-first-last-name4

2. =A2&" "&B2

You can use the formulas of =A2&" "&B2 with the same steps as above to get a full name roster by combining first name column and last name column.


arrow blue right bubble Combine the first and last names with Kutools for Excel

With the Kutools for Excel's Combine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data tool, you can quickly combine content from multiple columns (or rows) into one column (or row) without losing original data.

Kutools for Excel, with more than 300 handy functions, makes your jobs more easier. 

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

Step 1: Select the range you will work with.

Step 2: Click  Kutools > Merge & SplitCombine Rows, Columns or Cells without Losing Data, see screenshot:

doc-combine-first-last-name5

Step 3: In Combine Columns & Rows dialog box, specify the settings as following:

  • Check the Combine columns option in To combine selected cells according to following options section;
  • Check the Space option in Specify a separator section;
  • Specify the Options of the combined result you need, you can keep the contents, delete the contents or merge the contents of the combined cells.

doc-combine-first-last-name6

Step 4: Then click OK or Apply, you will get the full name roster in the original first name column, as follows screenshot shows:

doc-combine-first-last-name7

arrow blue right bubble Combine first name and last name into one cell



Kutools for Excel: 300+ functions you must have in Excel, 30-day free trial from here.

arrow blue right bubble Split first name and last name into two cells with Kutools for Excel

But in some case, when you have a single column with first name and last name in each cell, maybe now you want to split them to two cells, one includes first name, and another includes last name as below screenshot shown:

doc split names 1

In this case, you can use Kutools for Excel’s Split Names utility to quickly split names into cells.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:(Free Download Kutools for Excel Now!)

1. Select the column of names, and click Kutools > Merge & Split > Split Names. See screenshot:
doc-combine-first-last-name6

2. In the popping dialog, check the options as you need, if there are some middle names in your list, you can check the Middle name option, too. See screenshot:

doc split names 3

3. Click Ok and select a single cell to put the result.

doc split names 4

4. Click OK. Now the selected names have been split into two columns and one column with first name and another with last name separately.

doc split names 5

arrow blue right bubble Split full name into first name middle name and last name


Easily Combine/Consolidate data based on same value in Excel

Supposing you are working with a worksheet which contains multiple duplicate records, and now you need to combine / merge the rows based on the same value and do some calculations, such as sum, average, count of the duplicate rows. With this Advanced Combine Rows of Kutools for Excel, you can quickly combine same values / same data or duplicate rows into appropriate cells.  Click for full-featured free trial in 30 days!
doc advanced combine rows
 
Kutools for Excel: with more than 300 handy Excel add-ins, free to try with no limitation in 30 days.

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Comments (6)
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This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Okay but the problem with merging first and last names using Concatenate is that you cannot delete the original date or else you will lose the merged data. So once I have first and last name in one column I cannot delete the columns where they are separated. Why would I want one column with a first name, one with a last name, and a thrid with both first and last?
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
thanks so much
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Very Nice Tutorial
I am easily understood.
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Thanks for your approbation!
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Very nice tutorial 5+
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Would love this in Office for Mac! Looks really great.
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