FORMULA & SQL / TEXT
Initials from a full name.
Tested, not guessed.
The Excel and Google Sheets formula and the SQL query, each run on the rows below. Open this with your own data ↗
The example rows
| Row | A: Region | B: Rep | C: Amount | D: Order Date | E: Status | F: Customer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | North | Ana | 1,200 | 2026-03-01 | Paid | Jo Smith |
| 3 | South | Ben | 450 | 2026-03-15 | Open | Raj Patel |
| 4 | North | Cy | 300 | 2026-04-02 | Paid | Lee Wong |
| 5 | East | Ana | 980.50 | 2026-04-20 | Paid | Mia Ross |
| 6 | North | Ben | 75 | 2026-05-05 | Open | Jo Smith |
| 7 | West | Dee | 1,640 | 2026-05-18 | Paid | Sam Okoro |
The formula
Excel
=LEFT(A2,1)&MID(A2,IFERROR(SEARCH(" ",A2),0)+1,1)
The first 1 characters of Region (A2) joined with 1 characters of Region (A2), starting at character the position of " " inside Region (A2) (or 0 if that errors) plus 1.
Run on the example rows:
| Row | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 | NN |
| 3 | SS |
| 4 | NN |
| 5 | EE |
| 6 | NN |
| 7 | WW |
Your own data
Paste your rows into the free tool and it writes this for your columns, then runs it on your data before you copy it. Open the tool ↗