Random Name Picker
Paste a list, draw one name at a time, and keep track of who has already come up. Nothing is uploaded — the list stays in your browser.
Paste a class list, a team, or a column straight out of a spreadsheet — one name per line.
Same draw, saved between lessons
This page starts empty every time. Spin The Wheel keeps your lists, spins them as a wheel with a sound and a colour per slice, and works with no connection at all.
Drawing names without repeats
Most random pickers pick from the whole list every time, which is fine for one answer and useless for working through a group. Ask a class of thirty a question each and a plain picker will call the same child three times before it reaches half the room.
Removing each name as it is drawn fixes that: the pool shrinks, the counter shows how many are left, and the order that comes out is a genuine shuffle of the whole list. That is the difference between picking a name and drawing names.
What people use it for
- Teachers. Cold-calling that is visibly not favouritism, and a way to be sure everyone gets a turn.
- Stand-ups. A speaking order that nobody had to negotiate.
- Giveaways. Paste the entrants, draw a winner, then draw two runners-up without the winner coming up again.
- Secret Santa and pairings. Draw the whole list to get a random order, then pair off adjacent names.
- Chores. Draw people against a fixed list of jobs.
Wheel or list?
Use the wheel when the drama is the point and there are few enough options to read at a glance — a group deciding where to eat. Use this when the list is long, or when you need to get through all of it: thirty names on a wheel are thirty slivers of text nobody can read.
Questions
Can I stop the same name coming up twice?
That is on by default. Every name drawn moves into the “already picked” row and is taken out of the pool, so you can work through a class or a team from start to finish. Turn the checkbox off if you want every draw to use the full list, which is what you want for a raffle where people can win more than once.
How many names can I paste in?
Hundreds without trouble — it is a list, not a wheel, so nothing gets too small to read. Pasting a column straight out of a spreadsheet works, since one cell per line is exactly the format it expects.
Is it genuinely random?
Yes. Each draw uses your browser's cryptographic random number generator with rejection sampling, so every remaining name is equally likely. The names flickering past before it settles are for suspense; the choice is made at the end from the names still in the pool.
Is my list uploaded anywhere?
No. It stays in the page and in the address bar of your own browser. That is worth knowing if you are pasting in a class register or a customer list — nothing is transmitted, and nothing is stored after you close the tab.
Can I use it for a giveaway?
Yes, and the picked row gives you something to screenshot. For anything with real prizes, record the draw or do it live — a screenshot of a web page is not proof, whatever the tool.
