Sort on second word within a column in a table

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I have a table with multiple columns (attached). In the first column with the header Name, the names are listed with first name and last name (Elaine Horsley). I want to sort on the Name column by the second word which is the last name. Is this possible? I don’t seem to be able to figure out how to do it and would appreciate your help. Thank you.

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You don’t really want to sort on the second word because that’s not always the last name (as in “Rose Marie Lombardi” or “Mary Beth Forrest”). It’s possible to write VBA code that would sort on the last word, but it’s probably overkill for such a small document. You’re best off just splitting the name into first & last name columns.

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I removed the attachment in the top post because it was not necessary for the question to be understood and it appeared to contain real peoples contact details. It is good to see attachments to specific questions in general but in this case I don’t think we needed it.

You can’t sort easily on the second word and breaking this into two columns is not a single step either but it can be quickish with some mental gymnastics. I would recommend you put the names in Surname, Firstname order if you want to sort a single column. This makes it more logical for the reader as they can immediately see the sort order. If you sorted on the second word then it would take the readers several seconds to work out that the names are in surname order.

Ryk’s suggestion of two columns would also work.

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Thanks Ryk and Andrew – and thanks, Andrew, for removing the attachment. I will put the names in surname/firstname order as that seems easiest. Again, many thanks for your help.

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