How to Join First and Last Name in Excel

Excel allows us to join first and last name by using the TEXTJOIN or CONCATENATE functions. This step by step tutorial will assist all levels of Excel users in joining first and last name.

Figure 1. The final result of the CONCATENATE function

Syntax of the TEXTJOIN Formula

=TEXTJOIN(delimiter, ignore_empty, text1, [text2], ...)

The parameters of the TEXTJOIN function are:

• delimiter – a string that will be used as a separator between the text items
• ignore_empty – TRUE for ignoring empty cells
• text1, [text2] – text strings that will be joined

Syntax of the CONCATENATE Formula

=CONCATENATE(text1, [text2], [text3], …)

The parameters of the CONCATENATE function are:

• text1, [text2], [text3] – text strings that will be joined

Setting up Our Data for the Examples

Our table consists of 3 columns: “First Name” (column B), “Last Name” (column C) and “Full Name” (column E). In column E, we want to get a joined text from the columns B, using the space as a separator.

Figure 2. Data that we will use in the examples

Join First and Last Name Using the TEXTJOIN function

In the cell D3, we want to get a full name from the cells B3 and C3.

The formula looks like:

=TEXTJOIN(" ", TRUE, B3, C3)

The delimiter is “ “ (a space), while the ignore_empty is TRUE. The text1 is B3 and the text2 is C3.

To apply the TEXTJOIN function, we need to follow these steps:

• Select cell D3 and click on it
• Insert the formula: =TEXTJOIN(" ", TRUE, B3, C3)
• Press enter
• Drag the formula down to the other cells in the column by clicking and dragging the little “+” icon at the bottom-right of the cell.

Figure 3. Using the TEXTJOIN function to join the values from the cell range

Formula concatenates the values from the cells B3 (“Mike”) and C3 (“James”) with a space as a separator. As a result, the full name in the cell D3 is “Mike James”.

Join First and Last Name Using the CONCATENATE function

We will now do the same example, but using the CONCATENATE function.

The formula looks like:

=CONCATENATE(B3, " ", C3)

The text1 is B3, text2 is “ “ (a space) and text3 is C3.

To apply the TEXTJOIN function, we need to follow these steps:

• Select cell D3 and click on it
• Insert the formula: =CONCATENATE(B3, " ", C3)
• Press enter
• Drag the formula down to the other cells in the column by clicking and dragging the little “+” icon at the bottom-right of the cell.

Figure 4. Using the TEXTJOIN function to join the values from the cell range

The result in the cell D3 is as same as in the previous example (“Mike James”).

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