With the name in A1:
To get the first name:
=RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-(FIND(",",A1)+1))

To get the last name:
=LEFT(A1,FIND(",",A1)-1)

HTH,
Paul

"Karin" wrote in message
...
Hi, I was trying to extract a variable amount of information from the
right
in a text cell. I saw a response that used programming, but I'm not a
programmer. I found this method:

Smith, Joe (in column A, line 2)

To get the last name (in column B, line 2): =MID(A2,1,FIND(",",A2,1)-1)
(Returns Smith)

To get the first name is trickier -- I needed three additional columns to
get it.
Column D, Line 2 =LEN(A2) (returns 10)
Column E, Line 2 =FIND(",",A2,1)+1 (returns 7)
Column F, Line 2 =D2-E2 (returns 3)

In Column C (where I want the first name) =RIGHT(A2,F2)