How to Reverse Names in Excel (5 Handy Methods)

Method 1 – Using Flash Fill Feature to Reverse Names in Excel

Steps:

Enter the first name in your desired order as shown below.

Select the first cell of the Reverse Name column and go to the Home tab >> Fill drop-down >> Flash Fill.

Click on cell C5 and then drag down the Fill Handle tool for other cells.

If you get the desired output, click on the icon shown in the following image and select Accept suggestions.

Method 2 – Reversing Names with MID, SEARCH, and LEN Functions

Steps:

Select cell C5 and enter the following formula.

=MID(B5&” “&B5,SEARCH(” “,B5)+1,LEN(B5))

The other option is to enter it on the function box.

B5 is the First Name of the employee.

Formula Breakdown:

LEN(B5) → becomes
- LEN(“Henry Matt”) → The LEN function determines the length of the characters
  - Output → 10
- SEARCH(” “,B5) → becomes
  - SEARCH(” “,“Henry Matt”) → The SEARCH function finds the position of space in the text Henry Matt
    - Output → 6
  - SEARCH(” “,B5)+1 → becomes
    - 6+1 → 7
  - B5&” “&B5 → becomes
    - “Henry Matt”&” “&“Henry Matt” → The Ampersand Operator will add up the two texts Henry Matt
      - Output → “Henry Matt Henry Matt”
    - MID(B5&” “&B5,SEARCH(” “,B5)+1,LEN(B5)) → becomes
      - MID(“Henry Matt Henry Matt”,7,10) → 7 is the start number of the characters and 10 is the total number of characters which we will extract using the MID function from the text “Henry Matt Henry Matt”.
        
        Output → Matt Henry

Press ENTER.

Use the Fill Handle tool for the remaining cells.

Method 3 – Flipping Names with Comma in Excel

Steps:

Select cell C5 and enter the following formula.

=MID(B5&” “&B5,SEARCH(“,”,B5)+2,LEN(B5)-1)

B5 is the First Name of the employee.

Formula Breakdown:

LEN(B5)-1 → becomes
- LEN((“Henry, Matt”)-1) → The LEN function determines the length of the characters
  - Output → 10
- SEARCH(“, “,B5) → becomes
  - SEARCH(“, “,“Henry, Matt”) → The SEARCH function finds the position of space in the text Henry Matt
    - Output → 6
  - SEARCH(” “,B5)+2 → becomes
    - 6+2 → 8
  - B5&” “&B5 → becomes
    - “Henry, Matt”&” “&“Henry, Matt” → The Ampersand Operator will add up the two texts Henry Matt
      - Output → “Henry, Matt Henry, Matt”
    - =MID(B5&” “&B5,SEARCH(“,”,B5)+2,LEN(B5)-1)→ becomes
      - MID(“Henry, Matt Henry, Matt”,8,10) → 8 is the start number of the characters and 10 is the total number of characters which we will extract using the MID function from the text “Henry, Matt Henry, Matt”.
        
        Output → Matt Henry

Press ENTER.
Use the Fill Handle tool for the remaining cells.

The result will be displayed in the Reverse Name column.

Method 4 – Reversing Names in Excel Without a Comma

Steps:

Select the cell C5 and enter the following formula.

=MID(B5&”, “&B5,SEARCH(” “,B5)+1,LEN(B5)+1)

B5 is the First Name of the employee.

Formula Breakdown:

LEN(B5)+1 → becomes
- LEN((“Henry Matt”)+1) → The LEN function determines the length of the characters
  - Output → 11
- SEARCH(“, “,B5)+1 → becomes
  - SEARCH((“, “, “Henry Matt”)+1) → The SEARCH function finds the position of space in the text Henry Matt
    - Output → 6+1→7
  - B5&”, “&B5 → becomes
    - “Henry Matt”&”,”&“Henry Matt” → The Ampersand Operator will add up the two texts Henry Matt
      - Output → “Henry Matt, Henry Matt”
    - =MID(B5&” “&B5,SEARCH(“,”,B5)+2,LEN(B5)-1)→ becomes
      - MID(“Henry Matt, Henry Matt”,7,11) → 7 is the start number of the characters and 11 is the total number of characters which we will extract using the MID function from the text “Henry Matt, Henry Matt”.
        
        Output → Matt, Henry

Press ENTER.
Use the Fill Handle tool for the remaining cells.

The following result will be displayed.

Read More: How to Reverse a String in Excel

Method 5 – Reversing Names with Excel VBA

Steps:

Go to the Developer tab >> Visual Basic option.

Click on the Insert tab and select the Module option.

Module 1 will be created where we will insert our code.

Enter the following VBA code inside the created module

Sub name_flip()
Dim rng As Range
Dim wrk_rng As Range
Dim sym As String
On Error Resume Next
Set wrk_rng = Application.Selection
Set wrk_rng = Application.InputBox("Range", "Exceldemy", wrk_rng.Address, Type:=8)
sym = Application.InputBox("Symbol interval", "Exceldemy", " ", Type:=2)
For Each rng In wrk_rng
    yValue = rng.Value
    name_list = VBA.Split(yValue, sym)
    If UBound(name_list) = 1 Then
        rng.Offset(0, 1) = name_list(1) + sym + name_list(0)
    End If
Next
End Sub name_flip is the sub-procedure name. We have declared rng, wrk_rng as Range, sym as String.