Count unique names in excel column range

This formula will give you a "distinct count" without any helper columns

=SUMPRODUCT((B2:B1400<>"")/COUNTIF(B2:B1400,B2:B1400&""))

FREQUENCY doesn't work like that.

One of the quickest ways to get the distinct count would be to first filter out the duplicates and then select the records, right-click on bottom bar of Excel and check 'Count'.

See this post for getting the distinct values in Excel.

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UPDATE: There are a bunch of ways you could achieve this.. http://www.get-digital-help.com/2009/03/30/how-to-extract-a-unique-list-and-the-duplicates-in-excel-from-one-column/