count length of each class
HTML
<span value="John Smith" class="myName">John Smith</span>
<span value="John Smith" class="myName">John Smith</span>
<span value="John Smith" class="myName">John Smith</span>
<span value="John Smith" class="myName">John Smith</span>
<span class="myName">John Smith</span>
<span class="myName">John Smith</span>
CSS
.name-0 {
background:red;
}
JavaScript
$('.myName').each(function(){
var text = $(this).html().split(' '),
len = text.length,
test = $(this).val().length,
result = [];
console.log('outside: ' + test);
for( var i = 0; i < len; i++ ) {
result[i] = '<span class="name-'+[i]+'" >' + text[i] + '</span>';
console.log('inside: ' + test);
}
$(this).html(result.join(' '));
console.log('after: ' + test);
});