Turn 6 into “June” (or “Jun”). Build a date from the month number and format it — or pull the name straight from an existing date.
mmmm (full) or mmm (abbreviated).
The example
6 becomes “June”.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Number | Name |
| 2 | 6 | June |
| 3 | 10 | October |
The formula
Build a date, format the name:
How it works
The format code does the naming:
DATE(2000, A2, 1)creates the first of that month in any year.TEXT(…, "mmmm")formats it as the full month name;"mmm"gives the 3-letter abbreviation.- From an existing date, skip DATE:
=TEXT(A2, "mmmm"). - No-date alternative:
=CHOOSE(A2, "January", "February", …)— explicit but longer.
Name back to number: =MONTH(DATEVALUE(A2&" 1")) turns “June” into 6. And remember TEXT returns text — you can’t sort it chronologically; keep the number for sorting.
Try it: interactive demo
Month number → name.
Variations
Abbreviated
3-letter:
From a date
Direct:
Name to number
Reverse:
Pitfalls & errors
Result is text. Month names sort alphabetically (April, August…), not chronologically. Sort by the number, display the name.
Locale matters. Month names follow the workbook’s language settings.
Number out of range. DATE wraps months > 12 into the next year — validate 1–12 if needed.
Practice workbook
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a month number to a name in Excel?
How do I get the month name from a date?
How do I convert a month name back to a number?
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