hi doe2,

It really isn't practical for Word to try to do what you're asking, especially if the names are in different documents. This gets especially complicated even if, say, you have names in just one document and you number two or more instances of 'J.T,' then want to number another one that is between a pair that have already been numbered.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]