Wheel of Names — Free Random Name Picker
Spin the wheel of names to pick a random winner in seconds. Paste your list, spin, and let the pointer decide — fair, transparent and fun for classrooms, giveaways, teams and everyday decisions.
✔ Unlimited entries✔ Weighted odds✔ Share & embed✔ Works offline
Tip: press Space to spin · click the wheel · Esc closes the winner popup
Your entries
One per line. Add [2x] after a name to double its odds — e.g. Grand Prize [3x].
Quick templates
Settings
Share & embed
Results
What is a wheel of names?
A wheel of names is a free online random name picker that chooses one entry from a list by spinning a colorful wheel. You type or paste names — students, contestants, prizes, tasks, anything — and each one becomes a slice of the wheel. When you spin, the pointer lands on one slice at random, and that entry is your winner. Because everyone can watch the same spin, a wheel of names is trusted in a way that a hat draw or a hidden spreadsheet formula never is.
People also call it a name wheel, a spin wheel, a random picker wheel or a prize wheel spinner. Whatever the name, the idea is identical: visible, unbiased, genuinely random selection — with enough suspense built in to make a classroom lean forward in their chairs.
Unlike a plain random name generator that prints one line of text, the wheel of names turns selection into an event. The spin animation, the ticking pointer and the final reveal make it ideal for live settings — lessons, livestreams, raffles and meetings — where transparency and excitement both matter.
How to use the wheel of names in 3 steps
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Add your names
Type or paste one name per line into the entries box — a class list, giveaway entries or dinner options. The wheel of names redraws live as you type. Use Shuffle, A–Z sort and Dedupe to clean a pasted list in seconds.
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Customize the wheel
Choose from six color themes, set spin time from 2 to 15 seconds, toggle applause and confetti, rename the winner heading, or add weights like
[3x]to make a prize rarer or a choice more likely. -
Spin the wheel
Click the wheel, hit the Spin button or press
Space. The physics-based spin slows naturally, the pointer ticks past each peg, and the winner appears with confetti. Enable “Remove winner” to run no-repeat rounds automatically.
That is genuinely all there is to it. There is no account to create, no app to install, no software to download, and nothing to pay — the wheel of names opens ready to spin, and your list is saved locally in your browser for next time.
Wheel of names features that beat other wheels
We studied every major name wheel on the SERP — then built the features teachers, streamers and event hosts actually ask for, without the ads, paywalls or signups that slow other tools down.
Weighted entries
Add [2x] or [0.5x] to any line to change its odds — perfect for prize wheels with a rare jackpot.
Physics-based spin
A realistic deceleration model with a flexing pointer and peg ticks — spins feel like a real wheel, not a script.
Share links & embeds
One click copies a link carrying your exact wheel. Embed it on WordPress, Wix or Google Sites with a ready iframe.
No-repeat raffles
“Remove winner” mode plus a running Results list means clean multi-prize draws with zero duplicates.
Themes & dark mode
Six wheel palettes, light and dark page themes, custom winner headings and adjustable spin time and volume.
Private by design
Entries never leave your browser. No accounts, no ads, no tracking — your class list stays yours.
Fullscreen display
One button expands the wheel for projectors, whiteboards and OBS browser sources on stream.
Instant templates
Yes/No, dice, dinner, chores, prizes, alphabet and more — load a ready wheel in one click and edit freely.
Popular ways to use a wheel of names
The same spin wheel solves very different problems depending on who is watching. Here are the four biggest use cases — each with a dedicated, pre-loaded tool on this site.
Classroom name picker for teachers
Teachers use the wheel of names to cold-call fairly: the wheel chooses, so no student feels picked on and no one hides at the back. Paste your class list once, switch on Remove winner, and every student gets exactly one turn before the wheel resets. It also works for presentation order, reading turns, classroom jobs and random quiz topics.
→ Try the dedicated classroom name picker with a sample class list pre-loaded.
Giveaway winner picker for streams and raffles
Content creators and marketers run giveaways on a wheel of names because the audience can watch the draw happen live. Paste your entrants, spin once per prize, and let Remove winner keep past winners out of later draws. The share link lets moderators load the same wheel, and fullscreen mode drops straight into OBS or Streamlabs as a browser source.
→ Run your next draw with the giveaway winner picker.
Team generator and random groups
Need to split a list into fair teams? Load your roster into the wheel, keep Remove winner on, and spin into team A and team B alternately — or read the full elimination order as your draft. Coaches, teachers and dungeon masters all use this trick to build groups nobody argues with.
→ Split any roster with the random team generator.
Decision wheel for everyday choices
What to eat, which movie, who goes first, which task to start — a decision wheel ends the debate in five seconds. The “What's for dinner?” template is the most spun wheel on this site for a reason. When the options are all fine, the honest answer is to stop deliberating and spin.
→ Settle it now with the Yes or No wheel or the random number wheel.
A brief history of the spinning wheel
Humans have used spinning objects to make random selections for centuries. The earliest known wheel-based games of chance appeared in ancient Rome and China, where rotating discs and marked wheels determined everything from military assignments to banquet seating. The carnival prize wheel — the direct ancestor of today's wheel of names — became a fixture of fairs and game shows in the twentieth century, most famously in Wheel of Fortune, which turned the simple act of watching a wheel slow down into one of the most-watched rituals in television history.
What made those wheels compelling was never the prize — it was the suspense. The click of the pegs, the visible deceleration, the collective breath-hold as the pointer hovers between two options. Digital wheels of names preserve that psychology while removing the physical limitations: no warped axle, no weighted magnet, no "accidental" nudge. Every slice is exactly equal, every spin independent, and every result verifiable by the entire room at once. That combination — ancient suspense, modern fairness — is why the wheel of names has outlasted almost every other classroom and party tool.
Tips for getting the best results
After watching thousands of users spin their wheels, a few patterns separate smooth sessions from frustrating ones. First, prepare your list before the room is watching — paste it, dedupe it, and spin a test round so everyone sees the wheel works. Second, decide your rules before the first spin: will winners be removed? Can someone pass? Is a re-spin allowed if the pointer lands on a boundary? Announcing rules upfront prevents mid-spin disputes and keeps the activity moving smoothly and fairly.
Third, match the spin time to the moment. A two-second spin works for quick classroom checks; a ten-second spin builds genuine tension for a grand prize. Fourth, use the winner heading field to frame the result — "Next to read" lands very differently from "The winner is." Finally, for recurring groups, save a share link as a bookmark so your exact list loads instantly next time, with no re-pasting and no risk of a forgotten name.
Weighted entries, odds and fairness
Every spin of our wheel of names starts from a fresh random seed generated in your browser, and each entry gets a slice exactly proportional to its weight. With no weights, that means perfect equality: ten names, ten identical slices, a one-in-ten chance each. The physics animation is purely visual — the winning position is determined by randomization, not by where the wheel happened to start.
Weighted entries are where the wheel of names gets genuinely powerful. Add [3x] after any
line and its slice grows three times wider with three times the odds — ideal for prize wheels (a common
“Try Again”, a rare “Grand Prize”), for raffle tickets bought in bundles, or for gentle classroom
weighting toward students who have answered less. The slice widths on screen always match the true
odds, so the wheel stays honest: what you see is exactly what you get.
If you want to go deeper on how computers generate randomness, the RANDOM.ORG introduction to randomness and the Wikipedia article on random number generation are excellent, neutral starting points.
Why we built another wheel of names
The internet already has dozens of wheel spinners — so why does SpinAWheel exist? Because every tool we tried failed in a way that mattered. The most popular option locks weighted entries behind a $29-per-month paywall. Another injects display ads directly beside the spin button, which is a problem when your wheel is projected in front of thirty students. A third requires an account before you can save a list. And nearly all of them silently send your entries — student names, employee lists, giveaway entrants — to a server you've never heard of.
We built the wheel we wanted to use: completely free with no feature gates, no ads anywhere on the page, no account requirement, and a privacy architecture where your list literally cannot leak because it never leaves your browser. The physics engine mimics a real wheel's deceleration curve, the pointer flexes as pegs pass, and the confetti fires at the exact moment of reveal — because a wheel that doesn't feel good to spin is a wheel nobody wants to watch. This is the wheel of names we wished existed, so we built it.
How this wheel of names compares
We benchmarked the top-ranking wheels so you don't have to. Here is the honest scoreboard:
| Feature | SpinAWheel | Typical competitors |
|---|---|---|
| Free with no signup | ✔ Always | Often paywalled or account-gated |
| Ads | ✔ None, ever | Display ads on most free wheels |
| Weighted entries | ✔ Simple [2x] syntax | Pro plans only |
| Share link with entries | ✔ One click | Usually requires an account |
| Embed on your website | ✔ Copy-paste iframe | Rarely offered free |
| Remove-winner raffles | ✔ Built in | Common, sometimes limited |
| Privacy | ✔ 100% in-browser | Entries often sent to servers |
| Works offline once loaded | ✔ Yes | Rarely |
Wheel of names FAQ
Is this wheel of names really free?
Yes — 100% free with no signup, no account, no ads and no hidden limits. Add unlimited entries, spin as many times as you like, and use every feature including share links, templates and fullscreen mode at no cost.
Is the wheel of names truly random and fair?
Yes. Each spin uses a cryptographically seeded randomization process in your browser, so every entry has an exactly equal probability of being picked. If you add weights like [3x], those odds are honored precisely. No spin can be predicted or rigged in advance.
How many names can I add to the wheel?
There is no hard limit. You can paste hundreds of names — the wheel of names adjusts slice size and label text automatically. For the best on-screen readability, most people use between 5 and 60 entries per wheel.
How do I pick multiple winners without repeats?
Switch on Remove winner after spin in Settings. Each picked name leaves the wheel automatically, so you can run a full raffle, draft order or classroom round with zero duplicates. The Results list keeps a record of every pick.
Can I save my wheel or share it with others?
Yes. Your wheel auto-saves in your browser, and Copy share link creates a URL that contains your exact entries, colors and winner heading. Anyone who opens the link gets their own editable copy of your wheel — no account needed on either side.
Can I embed the wheel of names on my own website?
Yes. Click Copy embed code and paste the iframe snippet into WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Google Sites or any HTML page. Your list of names travels inside the embed, so visitors see your wheel instantly.
Does the wheel work on phones and classroom displays?
Absolutely. The wheel of names is fully responsive for phones, tablets, interactive whiteboards and projectors. Use Fullscreen mode for a distraction-free classroom display, and add the site to your home screen for one-tap access.
Is my list of names private?
Completely. Your entries never leave your device — the wheel runs entirely in your browser with local storage only. There are no accounts, no servers processing your names, and no tracking of what you spin.
Ready to spin the wheel of names?
Scroll up, paste your list, and get a fair random pick in the next ten seconds — free, unlimited and private.
↑ Spin the wheel now