def mysplit(lst): words = [] acc = [] for ch in lst: if ch == ' ': if len(acc) > 0: words.append(acc) acc = [] else: acc.append(ch) if len(acc) > 0: words.append(acc) word_count = len(words) result = {} for i in xrange(word_count): word_name = 'word%05d' % (i) result[ word_name ] = words[ i ] return result result = mysplit('Daniel Lemos Itaborai') for word_name, word_list in result.iteritems(): vars()[ word_name ] = word_list print vars()