Incrementing the column name auto-magically rolls 'Z' over to 'AA' and 'ZZ' over to 'AAA' so could be used here if access to non-core modules is difficult.

johngg@shiraz:~/perl/Monks$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E '
my @tests = ( -3, 0, 1, 26, 27, 701, 702, 703, 10342, 397645 );

foreach my $test ( @tests )
{
    printf qq{Col. no. %6d : Col name %s\n}, $test, getColName( $test 
+);
}

sub getColName
{
    my $colNo = shift;
    return q{Bad column number} unless $colNo > 0;
    my $colName = q{A};
    return $colName if $colNo == 1;
    do { $colName ++; $colNo -- } while $colNo > 1;
    return $colName;
}'
Col. no.     -3 : Col name Bad column number
Col. no.      0 : Col name Bad column number
Col. no.      1 : Col name A
Col. no.     26 : Col name Z
Col. no.     27 : Col name AA
Col. no.    701 : Col name ZY
Col. no.    702 : Col name ZZ
Col. no.    703 : Col name AAA
Col. no.  10342 : Col name OGT
Col. no. 397645 : Col name VPFA
[download]

I hope this is of interest.

Update : The do { ... } while ... ; using a statement modifier always executes at least once, thus making the return $colName if $colNo == 1; statement ahead of it necessary. Using while ( ... ) { ... } works better here.

johngg@shiraz:~/perl/Monks$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E '
my @tests = ( -3, 0, 1, 26, 27, 701, 702, 703, 10342, 397645 );

foreach my $test ( @tests )
{
    printf qq{Col. no. %6d : Col name %s\n}, $test, getColName( $test 
+);
}

sub getColName
{
    my $colNo = shift;
    return q{Bad column number} unless $colNo > 0;
    my $colName = q{A};
    while ( $colNo > 1 ) { $colName ++; $colNo --; }
    return $colName;
}'
Col. no.     -3 : Col name Bad column number
Col. no.      0 : Col name Bad column number
Col. no.      1 : Col name A
Col. no.     26 : Col name Z
Col. no.     27 : Col name AA
Col. no.    701 : Col name ZY
Col. no.    702 : Col name ZZ
Col. no.    703 : Col name AAA
Col. no.  10342 : Col name OGT
Col. no. 397645 : Col name VPFA
[download]

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