VBA Algorithm Help

[java568]

Here's the simple set-up: 3 columns of names

Here's what I would like to do:
-I would like to group these names by "family" in another worksheet
-Here's my definition of family: a family is a group of rows that are connected by the same names (although they do not have to all share the same name, just be connected by a name to another row that does).
-Example: If row 1 has name "A" in one of its columns, and row 3 has name "A" in one of its columns and name "B" in another one of its columns, and row 5 has name "B" in one of its columns but not "A" then 1, 3 and 5 are still a family. Does that make sense?

This is basically for an application of companies where I'm trying to narrow down companies that are connected to teach other in any way and post them all in one row in another worksheet. Does anyone have any ideas about how to make an algorithm that can do this quickly?

Thanks! I realize my explanation kind of sucks, but I could not think of any other way to word it.

 

[mikerickson]

How many name columns does each row have? Which ones?
How many other columns of data?

Does each name column have a unique header? (i.e. is it accessible to AdvancedFilter)
Is there a unique identifier for each row?

 

[java568]

There's a variable number of columns for each row (the excel sheet expands to the right and is continually added to), but we're only concerned with the first three. The rest of the data does not be searched.

Each of the first three columns does have a unique header located in the 4th row, but the rows do not have unique identifiers. None of the rows will have the same three names in all three columns, but they can have duplicate names within one or two of the columns.