Random name picker

Paste a list, draw a name instantly. No animation to sit through.

8 entries ready

How this works

  • The winner is drawn before the wheel moves — using your browser’s cryptographic random number generator, and the spin is then animated to land on it. Spinning by a random amount and reading off wherever it stopped would let frame timing and rounding tilt the odds.
  • Every entry has the same chance — the draw avoids the bias a plain “random number modulo the number of entries” introduces, which very slightly favours the entries at the start of the list.
  • Nothing is uploaded — your list stays in the page. Reloading clears it, and nothing is stored or sent.
  • Remove the winner — tick it to draw without replacement: useful for picking an order, assigning tasks or running several prizes off one list.

The same fair draw as the wheel, without the four-second spin. Paste a list — a class, a team, a queue of volunteers — and press pick.

For long lists this is the right tool: a wheel with sixty names on it is unreadable, and nobody wants to watch it turn sixty times. This gives you the answer immediately and keeps a record of the previous draws on the page so you can see what came up.

"Remove the winner afterwards" turns it into a draw without replacement, which is how you get a random order for a whole list rather than one name at a time.

How to use it

  1. Paste your names, one per line.
  2. Press pick one.
  3. Tick "remove the winner" to keep going through the list.
  4. Copy the list of draws if you need a record.

Frequently asked questions

Is the draw fair?

Yes. It uses your browser’s cryptographic random number generator with rejection sampling, so every name has exactly the same chance — including the ones at the end of a long list, which a naïve implementation quietly disadvantages.

How do I get a random order for the whole list?

Either press Shuffle, which reorders everything at once, or tick "remove the winner afterwards" and keep pressing pick. Both use the same draw.

Does it remember my list between visits?

No. Nothing is stored and nothing is uploaded, so the list is gone when you close the page. Keep it somewhere else if you need it again.

Can I use it for a giveaway?

Yes, and the record of previous draws is on the page so you can screenshot it. Bear in mind nothing here is audited or verifiable by a third party — for anything with real money attached, use a service that provides proof.

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