How to remove the middle name from a full name in Excel

Q: How do I keep the middle initial instead of dropping it?

For three-part names: =TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&MID(A2,FIND(" ",A2)+1,1)&". "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1) gives "Mary A. Smith".

Q: How do I extract the middle name instead?

Use =TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2," ")," ",-1,,,"").

Excel formula

=TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1)

Join the first word and the last word: =TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1). Names with no middle name come back unchanged.

Result on the example: one result per row in B2, filled down to B7
Works in: Microsoft 365 only
Google Sheets: Different formula, see below

See it work

The formula is already in B2, filled down to B7. Change any input and the result updates, or edit the formula to experiment.

How it works

TEXTBEFORE returns the text before the first space (the first name) and TEXTAFTER with -1 returns the text after the last space (the last name). Whatever sits between them, a middle name, an initial or nothing, is dropped.

The Google Sheets pattern only matches names with something between two spaces, so two-part names pass through untouched.

=TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1)

Result"Mary Smith"

A2"Mary Ann Smith"
The value in A2.
TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")"Mary"
TEXTBEFORE: Text before a delimiter.
- textA2"Mary Ann Smith"
- delimiter" "
TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" ""Mary "
The & operator joins as text.
-1-1
Makes the value negative.
TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1)"Smith"
TEXTAFTER: Text after a delimiter.
- textA2"Mary Ann Smith"
- delimiter" "
- instance_num-1-1
TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1)"Mary Smith"
The & operator joins as text.

In Google Sheets

Google Sheets needs a different formula: =REGEXREPLACE(A2,"^(\S+) .* (\S+)$","$1 $2"). On the same data it gives the same result. Here it is running in Google Sheets mode.

Other ways to do it

Each one was run on the same example sheet.

Formula	Result	When to use it
=LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2))&TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE(A2," ",REPT(" ",100)),100))	Mary Smith, Maria Lopez, John Jones…	Works in every version: LEFT keeps the first name and its space, and the TRIM(RIGHT(SUBSTITUTE())) part returns the last word.

Common mistakes

A single-word name returns #N/A. Wrap it: =IFERROR(TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1),A2).
Two-word first names like "Mary Ann" lose their second half. If that matters, keep the original column and review those rows.

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.

Remove the middle name from a full name

In B2, remove the middle name or initial so only the first and last names remain, and fill down to B7.

Questions

How do I keep the middle initial instead of dropping it?

For three-part names: =TEXTBEFORE(A2," ")&" "&MID(A2,FIND(" ",A2)+1,1)&". "&TEXTAFTER(A2," ",-1) gives "Mary A. Smith".

How do I extract the middle name instead?

Use =TEXTBEFORE(TEXTAFTER(A2," ")," ",-1,,,"").

Checked by running on 2026-10-30: every formula and result on this page was calculated by the Spreadsheet Practice formula engine, in both Excel and Google Sheets modes.