Thanks, Howard,
Now I need to be able to attach a number associated with the name in the
drop-down in another cell. I have been studying hard and I am thinking the
VLOOKUP function might be the way to go. In other words the name in the
drop-down is
"M/V North Wind" and her offical number is "123456". North Wind was in the
drop-down and in the ajacent cell her official number would pop up. I have
hundreds of boats that I am dealing with. I realize that I could just add the
number to the name when I enter the name for the drop-down but it is not as
clean looking. And not nearly as cool.

Thanks for your help,
Capt. Andy

"L. Howard Kittle" wrote:

A drop down would work. Go to Data Validation Settings Allow List
Source Select the list of names OK. Or for the Source you can enter the
names in the Source box separated by a coma (no space) or you can name the
list you have on the worksheet someplace, say name it MyList and then in the
source box enter =MyList.

HTH
Regards,
Howard

"Capt. Andy" <Capt. wrote in message
...
I have been getting pretty good with excel but there are things that I just
do not understand.

I have a cell that I enter a name. Some of the names are long and I would
like to make the entry quicker. What is the best way? I think it is a drop
down box but I just do not understand how to get started. Do I make a
list?
What? Help!