How to join first and last names into a single full name? We’ll show you two methods to concatenate the names.
The first example discovers the classic concatenation using the ampersand (“&”) character. In the second example, you’ll learn how to use the CONCATENATE function.
Join the first and last name using the ampersand character
In the example, we’ll use a “ghost-formula,” it’s not necessary to use real excel functions. Okay, the first name is in cell A2, and the last name is in cell B2.
Enter this expression:
In the example, cell C2 contains this formula:
What is the role of the ampersand character? The & character is a custom operator in Microsoft Excel. You can use it if you want to join arbitrary words.
Let us see the ghost formula and the steps to join the first and last name.
- As first, enter the text in A2 “John”.
- Join A2 to a space character.
- Finally, add the last name to the current string; in A3, “Doe”.
The result is: “John Doe”
Join first and last names using CONCAT
We are using Office365 Pro Plus, so we’ll use the CONCAT function. CONCAT provides the same functionality as the older CONCATENATE function. With its help, you can join several text strings into one text string. Last but not least, we can write shorter formulas!
=CONCAT(A3," ", B3)
to joins three things: the first name in cell B2, a space character (delimiter), and the last name in cell C2.
Are you using an earlier version of Excel? No problem, you should have to use the CONCATENATE function.