title: Splitting a single column (name) into two (forename, surname) in SQL
body: <p>Currently I'm working on a database redesign project. A large bulk of this project is pulling data from the old database and importing it into the new one.</p>
  
  <p>One of the columns in a table from the old database is called 'name'. It contains a forename and a surname all in one field (<em>ugh</em>). The new table has two columns; forenames and surname. I need to come up with a clean, efficient way to split this single column into two.</p>
  
  <p>For now I'd like to do everything in the same table and then I can easily transfer it across.</p>
  
  <p>3 columns:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Name (the forename and surname)</li>
  <li>Forename (currently empty, first half of name should go here)</li>
  <li>Surname (currently empty, second half of name should go here)</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>What I need to do: <strong>Split name in half and place into forename and surname</strong></p>
  
  <p>If anyone could shed some light on how to do this kind of thing I would really appreciate it as I haven't done anything like this in SQL before.</p>
  
  <p>Database engine: MySQL<br>
  Storage engine: InnoDB</p>