batch find and replace/renaming

Hello,

I have a long list of company names that I would like to anonymise/rename. In a column I might have:

BMW
BMW
BMW
Ford
Rolls Royce
Rolls Royce

Is it possible to automatically replace everything in one go - with unique names, so that all BMWs might become "A" or "Company A" etc. Or will I have to do it company by company - there are hundreds of them.

Many thanks in advance,

Adam

If you sort the column so companies are grouped, then you can numerically assign companies...

Assuming companies start in A2, then in B1 enter a 0, in B2 enter formula:

=IF(A2=A1,B1,"Company "&SUBSTITUTE(B1,"Company","")+1) copied down

Then you can copy and paste special values the column over itself or over the original list...