extract text strings

Can anyone help. I want extract the first name and surname from a text string containing their full name.

e.g. HAWES:GEORGE RICHARD becomes HAWES:GEORGE

Obviously they are all different lengths of name

Many thanks

Jack

Or
Data - Text to columns - use space as delimiter

I usually prefer the menu: Data, Text to columns

Here are a few options, as building blocks:
Family name: =LEFT(A1,FIND(":",A1)-1) --> HAWES
First name: =LEFT(MID(A1,FIND(":",A1)+1,255),FIND(" ",MID(A1,FIND(":",A1)+1,255))-1) --> GEORGE
Second name: =MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,255) --> RICHARD

The formulas work for the sample, but will probably not work for all instances, since names are very inconsistant in their layout. I.e. Mr, Andersson-Smith, ...
//Ola

if you want to learn how to this also yourself in case you want to change the formulas later on I would suggest a good resource to check out here:

http://www.teachexcel.com/tutorials/...raction_p1.php
http://www.teachexcel.com/tutorials/...s/formulas.php