How to extract the first name from a full name
✓ Verified in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 ✓ Verified in Google Sheets (2026-08-30)Pull just the first name out of a 'First Last' text string.
The formula
| App | Formula | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Excel (desktop) | =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1) | FIND locates the first space; LEFT takes everything before it. |
| Google Sheets | =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1) | Identical. |
| LibreOffice Calc | =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1) | Identical. |
How it works
FIND(" ",A2) returns the position of the first space; subtracting 1 stops just before it, and LEFT returns that many characters from the start. For 'Jane Doe' the result is 'Jane'. Wrap in IFERROR to handle single-word names.
Verified, not just documented
We ran =LEFT(A2,FIND(" ",A2)-1) in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 (headless, with forced recalculation) and it returned Jane — exactly the expected result. We then ran the same formulas in Google Sheets, executed 2026-08-30: a formula-only workbook goes into Google Drive, which converts it to a Sheet and recalculates every formula with Google’s own engine, and comes back out as .xlsx carrying the values Google computed. It returned Jane for the worked example, the same value LibreOffice produced. Both engines’ numbers on this page are executed results. The Excel formula follows Microsoft’s official documented syntax — we do not run desktop Excel.
Functions used
LEFT · FIND — see full Excel, Google Sheets & LibreOffice compatibility for each.
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