Try putting your list on a different worksheet, name that range and use that
range for the list.

Debra Dalgleish has some notes at:
http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal01.html

Annabelle wrote:

Is it possible to pull list data from another worksheet within the
workbook? I tried doing this through Data Validation but error message
indicates this isn't allowed.

The problem with having the dropdown data in the same worksheet is that
the users are inserting and deleting the same same rows that contain
the dropdown data.

--

Dave Peterson