How to count names in Google Sheets

“Counting names in Google Sheets” refers to the process of determining how many times a specific name appears in a range of cells within a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This could be useful for various purposes such as analyzing survey responses, tracking attendance, or keeping track of customer names in a sales database. 

In this tutorial, we will learn how to count names in Google Sheets. To count names in Google Sheets, you can use several methods, including COUNTIF, FILTER, and Find Choosing the best method depends on the specific needs and requirements of your project.

Suppose we have sales data for a company that shows the sales made by various salespersons. Our objective is to determine the total number of sales made by a particular salesperson i.e. “John”.

Method 1: Using the COUNTIF Function

Step 1 – Select a Blank Cell and Place an Equals Sign

  • Select a blank cell.
  • Place an Equals sign.

Step 2 – Utilize the COUNTIF Function

  • Enter the COUTNIF function in the cell.
  • The syntax of COUNTIF is:

             COUNTIF(A1:A25, “John”)

  • The first argument i.e. A1:A25 specifies the range containing the names.
  • The name to be counted is the second argument, which in this case is “John”.

Step 3 – Press the Enter Key

  • Press the Enter key.
  • The count of the name “John” will be returned.

Method 2: Using the Find Command

Step 1 – Open the Find Search Box

  • Open the Find and Replace dialog by simply pressing the CTRL+F keys.

Step 2 – Enter the Name 

  • Enter the name which you want to count in the “Find in Sheet” field.
  • The total number of cells containing the name will be displayed in the search box i.e. 3 of 7 
  • Where “7” is the total number or count of the cells containing “John”.

Method 3: Using the Filter Feature

Step 1 – Select the Range of Cells

  • Select the range of cells containing the names.

Step 2 – Enable the Filter Feature

  • Enable the Filter feature by clicking on the Filter icon in the ribbon.

Step 3 – Click on the Filter Drop-down Arrow

  • Click on the Filter drop-down arrow right next to the header of the selected range.

Step 4 – Deselect All and Select the Name Only

  • Deselect all the names in the drop-down menu and then select the specified name only i.e. “John”.

Step 5 – Click on OK 

  • Click on OK in the drop-down menu.
  • Only the sales done by John would be displayed.

Step 6 – Select all the Displayed Cells

  • Select all the displayed cells.
  • Their count will be displayed at the right bottom of the workbook.