Random Name Picker

Paste a list of names, one per line, tell the Random Name Picker how many you need, and press the button. It shuffles the whole list and hands back that many names, each on its own card, with a copy button so you can paste the result into a message or spreadsheet. Names are drawn without replacement: the tool takes the first N entries of the shuffled list, so a name you typed once cannot come back twice in the same draw.

It is a plain-text picker. There is no wheel to spin, no animation, and no account. That makes it quick for the situations where you just need an answer: who presents first, which three entries win the giveaway, which student answers the next question.

What you can set

• The list. One name per line. Blank lines are ignored, and the counter next to the label shows how many names the tool currently sees, which is handy when you paste a column from a spreadsheet and want to check nothing got merged.
• Number of names. How many to pick, from 1 up to the size of your list. Ask for more than you entered and the tool tells you to lower the number instead of guessing.

There is no upper limit on list length. A few hundred names pastes and draws just as fast as five.

What you get back

The picked names appear under a "Randomly Picked Name" or "Randomly Picked Names" heading, one card per name, in shuffled order rather than the order you typed them. The Copy button puts the picked names on your clipboard separated by line breaks. Press the button again and you get a fresh draw from the same list, so if you are running several rounds you do not have to re-paste anything.

Ways people use it

• Cold-calling in class. Paste the roster once at the start of the lesson and pick one name each time you want an answer. Because the list stays in the box, every draw is from the full class.
• Giveaway and raffle winners. Paste the entrants, set the number of prizes, draw once. If you want a numbered-ticket style draw instead, the Random Raffle Generator is built for that.
• Assigning chores or tasks. Pick one name per task from the household or team list. For splitting everyone into groups rather than picking a few, use the Random Team Generator.
• Deciding who goes first. Board games, presentations, the order of a code review rotation.
• Pairing people up. This tool picks individuals; if you need "A with B" matches, the Random Pair Generator takes two lists and pairs them.

How the draw works, and what counts as fair

When you submit, the tool splits your text on line breaks, drops empty lines, shuffles the resulting array and slices off the first N items. Two details follow from that:

• Duplicates count as separate entries. If "Maria" appears three times in your list, she has three entries in the shuffle and can appear up to three times in a draw of three or more. If you want each person to have exactly one chance, make sure each name is on the list once. The live counter helps here: if it reads 32 but you have 30 people, something is doubled.
• No memory between draws. Each press is independent. A name picked in round one is just as likely to come up in round two. If you want to exclude previous winners, delete them from the box before the next draw.

Leading and trailing spaces on a line are kept as typed, so " Sam" and "Sam" would be two different entries. Tidy the list if you are pasting from a messy source.

Related pickers

If your entries are not names but anything else (restaurants, movie titles, task IDs), the general Random Picker does the same job with wording that fits. To shuffle a whole list into a random order rather than pick from it, use the Random List Generator. For a quick physical-style decision between people sitting around a table, Spin the Arrow Online points at someone. You can browse all fun, party and decision tools for more.