How to set up the "IF" statement correctly?

Question

excel

I need to set up a cell so that it works with a drop down list.
In the drop-down list, the list of names "Andrey, Anton, Vlad, Maxim, Kolya". I need the IF operator to check the combo box and return - "word".
For example:
Andrey, Vlad = first
Anton, Kolya = second
Maxim = third

Found something like:

=IFS(E9 = "Андрей"; "первый"; E9 = "Антон"; "второй"; E9 = "Максим"; "третий")

But this option only works with three names. What if there are 50 names?

PS:
Everything works great!
And what should be added to the string so that it does not issue #N/ A when the string is empty?

Answer 1

In this case, the easiest way is to start a directory on a separate sheet, and look for a match there.
And if you want without a separate reference, you can do this: through VLOOKUP (query; range; index; [sorted]) and an array literal , like this:

=ВПР(E9;{
  "Андрей"\"1й";
  "Антон"\"2й";
  "Максим"\"3й"
};2;0)