Random Name Generator

[gnaneswarv]

I collected a list of around a 1000 names an was able to generate random Male and Female names. However, I would like to specify what letters the names should start with. For example, I have someone whose initials are S.B. I need to generate a random American name with those initials.

I'm using {=INDEX($A:$A,RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA($A:$A)),1)} to generate random names. Can anyone help with including a condition to look for the first letter in the list?

File can be accessed here: https://1drv.ms/x/s!AqS3jpc4XTWdmEA_HNrhYpyj9cP7

Thanks!

 

[Roderick_E]

In F4 use: =IFERROR(INDEX(A:A,MATCH(G2&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&"*",A:A,0)),(INDEX(A:A,MATCH(G2&"*",A:A,0)+RANDBETWEEN(1,10))))
In F5 use: =IFERROR(INDEX(B:B,MATCH(G2&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&"*",B:B,0)),(INDEX(B:B,MATCH(G2&"*",B:B,0)+RANDBETWEEN(1,10))))
In G4 & G5 use: =IFERROR(INDEX(C:C,MATCH(G3&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&CHAR(RANDBETWEEN(97,122))&"*",C:C,0)),(INDEX(C:C,MATCH(G3&"*",C:C,0)+RANDBETWEEN(1,10))))

These are looking for the selected first and last initials AND a randomly generating a-z letters after. Such as Ael* then matching. If that fails, it just matches on the selected letter and 1-10 random rows after. (change that part to something higher 1-20 to get more randomization

 

[gnaneswarv]

This is perfect! Thanks a ton!!