title: Split a column into 3 columns in pandas
body: <p>I have a column called <code>Names</code> which looks like this, I need to compare it other column in a different panda dataframe which has the last name and first name but not the initials like this one. I am trying to split the initials out of the column in a new column, using space as delimiter, but will probably need to do it for the whole string. I tried this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>transpose_enron['lastname'], transpose_enron['firstname'], transpose_enron['middle initial'] = zip(*transpose_enron['Names'].apply(lambda x: x.split(' ', 1)))
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and it gives me this error</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>"ValueError: need more than 1 value to unpack"</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <pre><code>0                    ALLEN PHILLIP K
  1                      BADUM JAMES P
  2                 BANNANTINE JAMES M
  8                      BELFER ROBERT
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any ideas on how to do this. </p>