Random name picker
Paste a list of names and draw one or several winners without repeats, optionally excluding people who already won.
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How it works
Paste a list with one name per line (up to 1,000), choose how many winners you need and press "Pick winners". The winners are drawn without repeats: the same person cannot appear twice in one draw.
"Exclude people who already won" carries the picked list across draws, which is what you want for a giveaway with several rounds or for calling on students so everyone gets a turn. "Treat repeated names as one entry" removes duplicate lines (ignoring letter case) so a name pasted twice does not get double odds.
Winners are drawn with a partial Fisher–Yates shuffle over a cryptographically random source, so every combination of winners is equally likely. For a visual draw in front of an audience, use the spinner wheel instead.
The odds for each person
With every name entered once, each person has the same chance of being among the winners: winners ÷ names.
- A name pasted twice has double the chance, unless "Treat repeated names as one entry" is ticked.
- With "Exclude people who already won" on, the odds for everyone else rise each round: in a class of 30, the second pick is 1 in 29, the third 1 in 28.
| Names in the list | 1 winner | 3 winners | 5 winners |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10% | 30% | 50% |
| 30 | 3.3% | 10% | 17% |
| 100 | 1.0% | 3.0% | 5.0% |
| 500 | 0.2% | 0.6% | 1.0% |
How to use it
- Paste or type the names, one per line.
- Enter how many winners to draw.
- Choose whether earlier winners should be excluded and whether duplicate lines count once.
- Press "Pick winners". Copy the list, or pick again for the next round.
- Use "Reset picked list" to allow everyone again.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really random and fair?
Yes. Draws come from your browser's crypto.getRandomValues, the cryptographically secure generator defined by the W3C Web Cryptography API, rather than Math.random. The widget turns 32-bit random numbers into a choice with rejection sampling: values from the small top slice of the range that would favour some options are thrown away and redrawn, so every option has exactly the same probability.
Can one person win twice in the same draw?
No. Within a draw, names are taken without replacement. Across draws, a person can win again unless "Exclude people who already won" is ticked.
Is this suitable for an official giveaway?
The draw itself is fair and reproducible in method, but it keeps no audit log. For regulated prize draws, check the rules in your country; some require an independent witness or a documented process, and you can record your screen while drawing.
What happens if I ask for more winners than there are names?
Everyone eligible is picked, in random order, and a message tells you how many were available.
Is the list stored anywhere?
No. Names stay in the page memory and disappear when you close or reload it.
Related tools
- Spinner WheelSpin a wheel of names or options: up to 200 entries, remove winners after each spin, keep a history and share the wheel by link.
- Random Team GeneratorSplit a list of names into a set number of teams or teams of a given size, with balanced sizes and optional fixed captains.
- Random Number GeneratorUniform random integers in any range from crypto.getRandomValues, one or many, with or without repeats.
- Coin FlipFlip a fair coin once, or flip up to 1,000 coins at once and see the heads/tails tally, percentages and longest streak.
- Dice RollerRoll 1 to 10 dice of type d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 or d100 and see each die, the total and a roll history.