Random Name Picker

About the Random Name Picker

Paste a list of names and this picks one at random, with a short spinning animation for suspense. It's made for fair draws — a giveaway or raffle winner, choosing who goes first, assigning a task, picking a student to answer, or settling a decision without anyone being able to claim it was rigged. It can also shuffle the whole list into a random order, handy for running orders or teams.

How it works

Each name goes on its own line; blank lines and surrounding spaces are ignored. When you pick, the tool selects a name using your browser's cryptographically secure random generator with rejection sampling, so every name has an exactly equal chance — there's no bias toward the top or bottom of the list. The animation is just visual flourish; the winner is a fair random draw. The shuffle option reorders the entire list using a secure Fisher–Yates shuffle, giving every ordering an equal chance.

Assumptions and behaviour

• One name per line; empty lines and extra spaces are trimmed out, so they don't get picked.
• Selection is fair and unbiased — genuinely equal odds for every entry, thanks to secure randomness with rejection sampling.
• Picking doesn't remove the name — each pick is independent, so the same name can win twice across separate picks. Use shuffle if you want a no-repeat running order.
• Duplicate names count as separate entries, so a name listed twice has double the chance.

Limitations

• It picks one winner at a time. To draw several unique winners, shuffle the list and take the top few, or remove each winner before the next pick.
• Because picks are independent, it won't automatically prevent the same name winning again on a later pick.
• It works from the names you paste in; it doesn't import from a spreadsheet, social media, or a link.
• The animation adds a brief delay by design; the result itself is instant and fair.

Privacy

The list and the draw stay entirely in your browser. Names are never uploaded or stored.