Split Names

Many lists have one column with full names, while mail merges, CRMs and email tools want first and last names separately: “Dear Ann” needs a first-name field, and sorting by surname needs a last-name field. Splitting by the first space works for “Ann Lee” and fails for “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”, “Ludwig van Beethoven” or “Lee, Ann”. This tool splits names with rules for the common cases and flags the rest for a human check.

Choosing the column and outputs

Pick the column with the full names; a column with “name” in its header is preselected. Choose which parts you want as new columns: prefix, first, middle, last and suffix. The new columns appear right after the original, which stays in place so you can compare and correct.

Titles and suffixes

Titles at the start, such as Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Prof, Rev, Herr, Frau, Mme, Sr or Shri, go into the prefix column, even several in a row. Generational and professional suffixes at the end, such as Jr., Sr., III, PhD, MD or Esq., go into the suffix column, with or without a comma before them.

“Last, First” order

Exports from HR systems and academic databases often write names as “Smith, John A.”. A comma that is not followed by a suffix is read as this order: the part before the comma is the last name, the first word after it the first name, and the rest middle names.

Surname particles

Many surnames include particles: van Beethoven, van der Berg, de la Cruz, di Caprio, da Silva, von Trapp, bin Rashid, al-Hassan. Particles directly before the final word are kept with the last name, so “Maria de la Cruz” splits into Maria and de la Cruz rather than leaving “de la” as a middle name.

Nicknames

Nicknames written in quotes or parentheses, as in Robert “Bob” Jones, are left out of the split so they do not end up as middle names.

Family name first

In Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian and some other naming traditions, the family name is written first. If your list follows that order, switch on “Family name is written first”, and the first word becomes the last name.

Names that need a look

The optional “Name check” column flags rows the tool is unsure about: a single word such as “Cher”, entries that look like organizations such as “Acme Widgets Ltd”, and names with several middle parts. These rows are highlighted in the preview, and the summary counts them, so you can review them quickly instead of the whole list.

Privacy

Names are personal data. The list is processed on your device and never uploaded.

Preparing for a mail merge

Most mail merge tools insert the first-name field into a greeting. Before sending, sort the result by the Name check column and look at flagged rows: a greeting like “Dear Acme” or “Dear Dr.” is a common, avoidable embarrassment. For rows without a usable first name, a neutral greeting such as “Hello” is the safer choice.

Related tools

After splitting, create contacts with CSV to vCard or standardize numbers with Clean Phone Numbers. To rename or reorder the new columns, use Edit CSV Columns.