Combining first two letters from first name and first two letters from last name

Yes; assuming each person only has a First and Last name, and this is always separated by a space you can use the below:

=LEFT(A1,2)&MID(A1,SEARCH(" ",A1)+1,2)

I could only base this answer on those assumptions as it is all you provided.

Or if you want a space to still be included:

=LEFT(A1,2)&" "&MID(A1,SEARCH(" ",A1)+1,2)

And to round things out, here's a solution that will return the first two characters of the first name, and the first two characters of the last name, but also accounts for middle names.

=LEFT(A1,2)&LEFT(MID(A1,FIND("~~~~~",SUBSTITUTE(A1," ","~~~~~",LEN(A1)-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(A1," ",""))))+1,LEN(A1)),2)

enter image description here

Thanks to @Kyle for the main part of the formula


This is another way...

Screenshot of worksheet

  • A - Name
  • B - =CONCATENATE(LEFT(A1,2),LEFT(RIGHT(A1,(LEN(A1)-FIND(" ",A1))),2))