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Convert Month Names to Numbers

You are here: Home / Excel Formulas / Convert Month Names to Numbers
October 25, 2017 by Mynda Treacy

Often, we'll have a list of month names that we want to convert to a date, or even just convert month names to numbers.

We can use the MONTH function to do this; see examples below:

Convert Month Names to Numbers

How it works: By concatenating a 1 to the text month name in column B we provide the MONTH function with a text date it can recognise/use. We can see how the formula in cell C7 evaluates in the Evaluate Formula dialog box below:

evaluate Month formula

Convert Month Names to Dates

We can exploit this use of the MONTH function to create a date serial number (shown in column C below). You can then format them as a date (shown in column D below), using Format Cells.

convert month names to a dates

Note: The formula in column C converts the month name in column B to the first day of each month in the current year. You can replace the 'YEAR(TODAY())' part of the formula with a different year, if you prefer.

Tip: You can also convert abbreviated month names to numbers or dates:

convert abbreviated month name to number
*Special thanks to Sunny Kow for reminding me about this tip.

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mynda treacy microsoft mvpHi, I'm Mynda Treacy and I run MOTH with my husband, Phil. Through our blog, webinars, YouTube channel and courses we hope we can help you learn Excel, Power Pivot and DAX, Power Query, Power BI, and Excel Dashboards.

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