Random Name Picker
Calculator Use
The Random Name Picker randomly draws a name from your list. Input a list of up to 1000 names or other items and the name picker selects any number of them at random.
Why Use a Random Name Picker
People use random list pickers to select winners for raffles and contents. Teachers use them in the classroom to randomly select students to read, answer questions, or volunteer for classroom jobs.
You can also use this calculator to randomly sort any list. You can choose whether to repeat list items in the new sort order, or have no repeats as in your original list.
Is This a Random Word Generator?
Random word generators pull a word from a database randomly. Some generators have options to specify how many characters in the word, what letter the word begins or ends with, or what part of speech is the word as in noun or verb. The tool on this page is a random word picker and not really a word generator.
Example 1: Using the Random Name Picker
You've been tasked with organizing teams of co-workers for a competitive fundraising 5K race. There are 20 co-workers and you need 5 teams with 4 people each. How do you randomly assign people to teams?
First, input the list of names of all co-workers. Specify that you want the picker to pick 4 list items and that you don't want to allow repeat name picks. You can choose to sort the resulting list if you prefer.
Click Calculate to pick your first 4 random names. Record the names as a team and then remove them from the input list. Click Calculate again to pick 4 names from the remaining 16 in the list. Repeat this process until you have 5 teams with 4 names randomly picked for each team.
Example 2: Using the Random Name Picker
You need to plant rows of petunias in a flower bed and you have 3 colors of petunias to choose from. You want the bed to appear randomly multicolored and you want the bed to have 60 petunia plants. How do you randomly figure out how many plants of each color you need on your shopping list?
Input the 3 colors of petunias, say pink, yellow and peach. Tell the calculator to pick 60 items and allow repeats.
Click Calculate to get a list of random color name picks. Count how many times each color appears in the list and go shopping!
Example 3: Using the Random Name Picker
You're hosting a Pretty Plastics party and the sales consultant has 3 giveaway prizes. You want to make sure the prize winners are selected randomly so everyone feels they had a fair chance at getting a prize.
Input the list of names of your everyone at your party. Tell the calculator to pick 3 names with no repeats. Sorting is not necessary.
Click Calculate to get your 3 Pretty Plastics prize winners.