# Random Name Picker - Fair Winner Draws with a Spinning Reveal and Weights

Page: https://hirantha.me/tools/random-name-picker
Part of: Hirantha Sandaruwan Lakshan free tools (https://hirantha.me/tools)
Updated: 2026-10-15

Paste a list of names and pick one or more winners fairly, with optional extra chances, a spinning reveal, a history and winners removed after each draw.

This is a free tool that runs in the browser: open the page to use it. File tools process files on the visitor's own device; files are never uploaded or stored. No account, sign-up, payment or watermark.

Paste a list of names, one per line or separated by commas, and pick one winner or several. Every name has an equal chance unless you give it extra tickets by writing it as Name, 3. You can take winners out of the list after each draw, keep a history of draws and watch a spinning list reveal the result. The draw uses your browser's secure random number generator, and your names never leave the page.

Reading your list: if the box has more than one line, each line is one name. If it is a single line, the names are split at commas. Extra spaces are tidied, and names are compared ignoring capital letters, so Kasun and kasun are the same name. Sinhala and Tamil names work too, and the joining characters that some letters need are kept. A name written twice counts as two entries, which is two tickets, unless Remove duplicate names is on. That keeps the first copy of each name.

Weights are tickets. In a list with one name per line, a line that ends with a comma and a whole number, such as Nimali Fernando, 3, gives that name that many tickets, from 1 to 1,000,000. A name with 3 tickets is exactly three times as likely as a name with 1. The tool numbers all the tickets, draws one ticket number below the total with rejection sampling so no number is favoured, and picks the name that owns that ticket. A one-line list cannot hold weights, because commas already separate the names there.

With several winners, they are drawn one after another. After each winner, that entry's tickets are taken out and the next winner is drawn from the entries left, in proportion to tickets, so no entry wins twice in one draw. A name that is listed twice has two entries, so unless Remove duplicate names is on, that person can win twice. With equal tickets this is a simple random sample, where each group of k entries is as likely as any other group of k entries. Turn on Remove winners from the list to take the winning lines out of the box ready for the next draw. Put the winners back undoes it.

The winner is chosen first. The names that flash past while the list spins are only a reveal, and they cannot change who wins. If your device asks for reduced motion, the spin is skipped and the winners appear at once. The list is limited to 5,000 names, and the draw happens entirely in your browser tab.

How tickets set the chance of being picked first:
| Name | Tickets | Chance of being picked first |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kasun Perera, 3 | 3 | 60.0% |
| Nimali Fernando | 1 | 20.0% |
| Tharindu Silva | 1 | 20.0% |
| All names | 5 | 100.0% |

Q: Is the random name picker fair?
A: Yes. With no weights, every name has exactly the same chance. The tool draws a number from your browser's secure random number generator and uses rejection sampling, so no name is even slightly favoured by the maths.

Q: Are my names uploaded anywhere?
A: No. The list stays in your browser tab. Nothing is sent, saved or logged, and closing the tab clears the list and the history.

Q: How do I give someone more chances?
A: Put each name on its own line and add a comma and a whole number: Nimali Fernando, 3. That name then holds 3 tickets. Names without a number hold 1 ticket. The panel Chance of being picked first lists the exact percentages.

Q: Can the same person win twice?
A: Not within one draw when every name is listed once: each winner is taken out before the next is drawn. A name listed twice has two entries, so that person can win twice in one draw, unless you turn on Remove duplicate names. Across separate draws anyone can win again, unless you turn on Remove winners from the list, which takes the winning lines out of the box. With Remove duplicate names also on, every copy of a winner's name goes.

Q: What happens if a name is in the list twice?
A: Each copy is a separate entry, so that person has two chances. This is how a person with two raffle tickets should be treated. Turn on Remove duplicate names if each person should count once. The comparison ignores capital letters and extra spaces.

Q: How do I pick several winners at once?
A: Set Number of winners to the number you want, up to the number of names, and press Pick. The winners are drawn one after another and listed in the order they were drawn.

Q: Can I use this for a giveaway or prize draw?
A: It makes a fair pick from your list. It cannot prove to anyone else that the draw was fair, because they cannot see the random values, and it is not an approved or audited draw. If your giveaway has rules from a platform, a school, an employer or the law, follow those rules. Drawing in front of the entrants helps them trust the result.

Q: Why does the spin show other names before the winner?
A: The winner is chosen before the spin starts. The names that flash past are decoration, drawn only to make the reveal feel like a spin. Turn on reduced motion in your device settings to skip it.

Sources: Crypto: getRandomValues() method - MDN (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Crypto/getRandomValues); Simple random sample - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_random_sample); Fisher-Yates shuffle, including modulo bias - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher%E2%80%93Yates_shuffle)

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