How to Flip "Last, First" Names to "First Last" in Excel

Reverse names exported as "Garcia, Elena" into "Elena Garcia" — even when spacing is inconsistent or the surname is in capitals.

You will learn to

• Swap the parts around the comma
• Handle a missing or extra space after the comma
• Fix capitalization while flipping

How it works

Membership systems and CRMs often export names as "Garcia, Elena". To flip them, take the part after the comma, add a space, then the part before it: =TEXTAFTER(A2,", ")&" "&TEXTBEFORE(A2,","). In older Excel versions use =MID(A2,FIND(",",A2)+2,99)&" "&LEFT(A2,FIND(",",A2)-1).

Exports are rarely consistent: some rows have no space after the comma and some have two. Split on the comma alone and TRIM the first-name part to handle every case. If the source is in capitals ("NGUYEN, linh"), wrap the whole result in PROPER to get "Linh Nguyen".

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