Why bother using Vlookup at all? If you are generating a random number,
simply use that as the row number for the name you want.

Regards,
Fred.

"REJesser" wrote in message
...
Perhaps I didn't do a good job of explaining the new opportunity facing
me.
The same person is not always returned. As long as the last names the
random
numbers correspond to are unique, everything works perfect. If, however,
there are two or more folks with the same last name, the first person
(alphabetically by first name) with that last name is selected.

So...

1. Britt, Justin
2. Britt, Wesley
3. Bryant, Bear
4. Namath, Joe
5. Saban, Nick
6. Stabler, Ken
7. Starr, Bart
8. Thomas, Derrick

Suppose that the two random numbers generated are 4 and 2. The names that
would be listed a

Namath, Joe
Britt, Justin (should have been his brother Britt, Wesley)

"John C" wrote:

My formula given should give you last name, first name. If you are
getting
the same person every time, perhaps you should share with us how you are
generating the random number?
--
** John C **

"REJesser" wrote:

Thanks for your help. And now for a new challenge...

Your suggestion worked out great except when more than one individual
has
the same last name. When that takes place, the first person with that
last
name is identified.

Ex.
1. Smith, Alvin
2. Smith, Brian
3. Smith, Cory

Even when the #3 is randomly generated, Alvin Smith is still
identified.



"Sheeloo" wrote:

Use
=VLOOKUP(D1,A1:B150,2).

i.e. change A150 to B150

"REJesser" wrote:

I am attempting to create a Random Drug Screen Identifier. I can
handle the
whole random number creation. What I haven't been able to figure
out is how
can I have the name associated with the number identified. For
example, I
have in the first column, the number 1. Each cell below counts
up...=A1+1;
=A2+1, etc. The next column (B) is devoted to the last names of
the
employees. The next is employee first names (C). Column D
generates 10
random numbers from 1 to the total current number of employees. I
can
certainly print out the list of employees and, by hand, highlight
those
numbers which were generated. I would prefer the worksheet do that
for me.
I have tried the VLOOKUP command... =VLOOKUP(D1,A1:A150,2). I had
hoped that
this would actually list the name identified with the first random
number.
The next number would be =VLOOKUP(D2,A1:A150,2) and so on. It
ain't workin'.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.