Wheel of Names
Spin a colourful wheel of names and pick one at random — the classroom, raffle and giveaway favourite. Entries stay in your browser; the spin is driven by cryptographic randomness.
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What this tool does
Spin a colourful wheel of names and pick one at random — the classroom, raffle and giveaway favourite. Entries stay in your browser; the spin is driven by cryptographic randomness. Entries are weighted equally — list a name twice to give it two slices. Duplicate lines are kept as separate slices.
How to use the Wheel of Names
- Enter or select names or entries (one per line).
- Read the calculated result; change any measurement to compare alternatives.
Formula
Each entry gets an equal slice of the wheel. A uniform cryptographic draw (crypto.getRandomValues, rejection-sampled) chooses the winning slice; the wheel then spins and settles with that entry under the pointer.
- names
- Names or entries (one per line)
Entries are weighted equally — list a name twice to give it two slices. Duplicate lines are kept as separate slices.
Worked example
Sample spin: with Alex, Priya, Jordan, Sam, Taylor and Casey on the wheel, one spin might slow down and land on Priya — a different name wins on every spin, because each spin is a fresh cryptographic draw, not a replay.
Inputs
- Names or entries (one per line)Alex Priya Jordan Sam Taylor Casey
Result
- Random resultA fresh cryptographic result is generated locally in the calculator above.
Results explained
- Winner
- Winner from the formula above. Entries are weighted equally — list a name twice to give it two slices. Duplicate lines are kept as separate slices.
- Entries on the wheel
- Entries on the wheel from the formula above. Entries are weighted equally — list a name twice to give it two slices. Duplicate lines are kept as separate slices.
- All entries
- All entries from the formula above. Entries are weighted equally — list a name twice to give it two slices. Duplicate lines are kept as separate slices.
Frequently asked questions
Every entry gets an equal-sized slice. Pressing Generate draws one slice with your browser's cryptographic random generator and the wheel animation spins to land that exact entry under the pointer — the result is decided first, then revealed by the spin.
Yes — list a name more than once. Each line is its own slice, so a name entered three times has three slices and roughly three times the chance of a name entered once.
Nothing you enter is uploaded or stored — the draw happens entirely in this browser tab and the list disappears when you close it.
Up to 500 entries are accepted. Beyond about 30 names the slice labels become hard to read, but the draw itself stays fair — for very long lists the Random Name Picker may be easier to read.
Edit the list to delete the winner's line, then spin again. The wheel does not keep state between spins, which is also what makes it safe for raffles: every spin is independent.
Each spin is independent, so the same name can win twice in a row — with six names that happens about one spin in six for any given back-to-back pair. That is what fair randomness looks like.