Spreadsheet Practice

How to get the month name from a date in Excel

Formula (Excel and Google Sheets)

=TEXT(A2,"mmmm")

Use =TEXT(date,"mmmm") for the full name or "mmm" for the short one.

Result on the example
one result per row in B2, filled down to B6
Works in
Every current version
Google Sheets
Same formula

See it work

The formula is already in B2, filled down to B6. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

TEXT formats a number as text using a pattern: "mmmm" is the full month name, "mmm" the three-letter version, and "mmm yyyy" adds the year. The result is text, which is ideal for labels.

=TEXT(A2,"mmmm")

Result"January"

  1. A21/14/2026

    The value in A2.

  2. TEXT(A2,"mmmm")"January"

    TEXT: Formats a number or date as text, e.g. "mmm" or "$#,##0".

    • valueA21/14/2026
    • format_text"mmmm"

In Google Sheets

The same formula works in Google Sheets: =TEXT(A2,"mmmm"). We ran it in Google Sheets mode on the same data and it returns the same results.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

FormulaResultWhen to use it
=TEXT(A2,"mmm")Jan, Mar, Mar…Different resultShort names: Jan, Mar, Jul. Three-letter month names.
=CHOOSE(MONTH(A2),"January","February","March","April","May","June","July","August","September","October","November","December")January, March, March…Gives the same names without TEXT, and lets you use your own labels.

Common mistakes

  • The result is text, so it sorts alphabetically (April before January). Sort by the date or by MONTH(A2) instead.
  • TEXT month names follow the language of your spreadsheet.
  • To keep a real date but display the month, use a custom number format "mmmm" on the date cell instead.

Try it yourself

Same data, empty answer cell. Your formula is graded instantly, then re-checked on changed data, so a typed-in number won't pass.

Get the month name from a date

In B2, show the full month name of the order date, and fill down to B6.

Questions

How do I get the month number?

Use =MONTH(A2), which returns 1 to 12.

How do I get the day name?

Use =TEXT(A2,"dddd").

Checked by running on 2026-10-29: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.