1. put all you names into a single column with a label to the top of the
column.
2. Data Filter Advanced FIlter copy to new column/unique records only

For example:

item item
cat cat
cat hat
hat bat
bat rat
rat dog
dog mouse
dog
hat
hat
mouse
mouse

The second column are the uniques
In C2 enter:
1000
In C3 enter:
=C2+1 and copy down:

item item
cat cat 1000
cat hat 1001
hat bat 1002
bat rat 1003
rat dog 1004
dog mouse 1005
dog
hat
hat
mouse
mouse

Now each name has a unique number. From anywhere in the spreadsheet, if you
want the number for a name, just VLOOKUP() the name in column B to get the
value in column C.
--
Gary''s Student - gsnu200729


"Proton" wrote:

Using either Excel 2003 or 2007, doesn't matter to me.
I have a set of data over many sheets, that I'm currently consolidating into
one sheet. One of the columns is FamilyName, i.e. "Smith, Jones, Wilson,
etc.". Some of the names in this column are repeated.
What I need to do is take that column, find the unique names, and convert
them into unique number values into another column.
For example:

FamilyName FamilyNum
Jones 1111
Smith 2222
Wilson 3333
Rogers 4444
Smith 2222
Johnson 5555

Is something like this even possible? thanks for any advice.