Excel 2007 : Removing Text from Cells

[Randy Putman]

My question is lets say you have a column with Last Name First Name Middle Initial.
and in another column just the last name. Is there a simple way of removing the Last name only from the first column? Some of the databases I use have 10's of thousands of names on them in this manner.

Thanks
Randy

[davegugg]

If the last name is always first, you can use this formula:

=LEFT(A1,FIND(" ",A1,1))

This assumes your name is in cell A1, and a space seperates the last name from the rest.

[Randy Putman]

I can separate the last name out using the method you gave me or using the replace command and deleting everything after the first space. But if my names appear in a column like this:
GARCIA FRANK JR & IRENE
CASIAS JIMMY R & ROSA
MC CARTY RICKY D ET UX
WHITEFIELD CURTIS STANLEY &
VASQUEZ GILBERTO & ANITA
RAMOS YSIDRO & MARIE
PINA AURELIO F &
JAMISON ETHEL & MARY ELIZABETH BURR
FLORES CHRIS & JULIE
LOPEZ PAULA S MRS
DE LOS SANTOS TEODORA G
GARZA RAMIRO M & SUSIE
MORRISON GARY & BELINDA
WATERS MORRIS ALVIN ESTATE
CHAPA ANTONIO & NORMA
ZAPATA LUIS
WHITTENBURG RICHARD B JR
SILLS CONNIE & LULA
MONTEZ JESSUS TR
ORTEGA LORENZO & ROSARIO
WHITE CHARLES E &
COLEGIO GEORGE V JR
How do I remove only the last name leaving me the first names only?

[davegugg]

=right(a1,len(a1)-find(" ",a1,1))

[Randy Putman]

Works perfectly.....Thanks so much!!!