How to merge first and last name in Excel

In this tutorial we will learn how to merge first and last name in Excel by using the Text join function.

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

This function allows us to join different text strings in one textbox. 

Delimiter : The delimiter is a string, possibly empty, or a reference to a valid string. If empty, the text will be simply concatenated. It is used to differentiate the two values . comma is most commonly used.
Ignore_empty : Whether to pass empty value or not.(True for to pass , False to block).

Below are the steps to follow.

Microsoft Excel is a very unique tool for calculation of numeric data. The data is stored in rows and columns. The basic unit is a cell. We write the data in the cell and we can manipulate this data in different ways. In some cases we have to combine different kinds of data placed in different cells rather than copy-pasting and adjusting the height and width of the cell. Specially in the case of names we usually face difficulty in combining first and last names in specific grammatical order. Microsoft Excel provides us with a built-in tool for it.

Step 1 – Select the cell and apply the formula

Above is an example animation.

– Select the text box in which you wish to join names from two different cells.
– Type the formula.
– Select the delimiter. (in case we can use space , comma or any other special character as per requirement)
– Select the boolean value for ignore_empty
– Select the  data cells you wish to combine from your  data range.
– As long as you press the enter key it will combine first name and last name  in one textbox.

As a result, we have combined first name and last name from different text boxes in Excel using the text join function with delimiter as space and apostrophe (‘).