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Random Name Picker

Random Name Picker — Complete Documentation

Free random name picker wheel tool by Uplup. Spin the wheel of names for classrooms, raffles, giveaways, team building, and more. Supports up to 1 million+ names per wheel.

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Getting Started
  3. Adding Names
  4. Spinning the Wheel
  5. Weighted Entries
  6. Teams Mode
  7. Customization
  8. Winners Management
  9. Live / Full-Screen Mode
  10. Saving & Loading Wheels
  11. Dashboard
  12. Sharing & Embedding
  13. Spin History & Audit Log
  14. Form/Quiz Import Bridge
  15. Comment Picker Integration
  16. Discord Bot
  17. API Reference
  18. Plans & Limits
  19. FAQ

1. Overview

The Uplup Random Name Picker is a free, ad-free spin-the-wheel tool for randomly selecting names. It supports:

  • Up to 1 million+ names per wheel via CSV upload
  • Weighted entries — assign custom probabilities to each name
  • Teams mode — organize names into color-coded teams
  • Multi-winner selection — pick multiple winners in one session
  • Cryptographically fair — server-side random number generation using System.Security.Cryptography
  • Full customization — colors, fonts, audio, backgrounds, icons
  • Live/presentation mode — full-screen for classrooms and events
  • Embed on any website — script-based embedding
  • Winner certificates — downloadable PDF proof of fair selection
  • Complete audit trail — timestamped history of every action

URL: uplup.com/random-name-picker

2. Getting Started

Without an Account

  1. Visit uplup.com/random-name-picker
  2. Enter names in the text area (one per line, or comma-separated)
  3. Click the SPIN button in the center of the wheel
  4. A winner is randomly selected and announced

No signup required for basic use.

With a Free Account

Creating a free account unlocks:

  • Save up to 3 wheels
  • Access the dashboard to manage wheels
  • View spin history and audit logs
  • Share winners via public links

With a Pro Account

Pro unlocks:

  • Unlimited saved wheels
  • Unlimited monthly spins
  • CSV upload (up to 1M+ names)
  • Custom backgrounds & fonts
  • Weighted entries
  • Winner certificates (PDF)
  • API access

3. Adding Names

3.1 Manual Entry

The Names tab in the left panel provides a text area for entering participants.

Input formats:

  • One name per line
  • Comma-separated names
  • Mix of both

Actions:

  • Add — Appends entered names to the wheel
  • Shuffle — Randomizes the order of all names
  • Clear All — Removes all names from the wheel
  • Sort A-Z — Alphabetically sorts names

Names appear as colored segments on the wheel immediately after adding.

Display limit: The wheel canvas renders a maximum of 250 segments visually. If more names are added, all names are still in the pool — the wheel just displays a representative subset.

3.2 CSV Upload (Pro)

Upload a CSV file to bulk-import names:

  1. Click the CSV tab in the left panel
  2. Drag and drop a .csv file or click to browse
  3. File is parsed and names are loaded

CSV format support:

  • Auto-detects header row (looks for columns named name, email, weight)
  • Supports comma and tab delimiters
  • First column treated as the name (if no header detected)
  • Optional weight column for weighted entries
  • Extra columns (email, department, etc.) preserved as metadata

Limits: Maximum 10,000 entries per upload.

Processing modes:

  • Server-side — Large files processed entirely on the backend
  • Hybrid — Split between client and server
  • Client-side — Small files parsed in the browser

Session tracking: A csv_batch_id is generated for each upload session with processing mode, total count, and session ID displayed. Clear session button to reset.

3.3 Import from Uplup Forms/Quizzes

Import names directly from form/quiz submissions. See Section 14 (Form/Quiz Import Bridge) for full details.

4. Spinning the Wheel

4.1 Basic Spin

Click the center SPIN button (or press spacebar) to spin the wheel.

Spin behavior:

  1. Wheel begins rotating with acceleration
  2. Tick sounds play as segments pass the needle (if audio enabled)
  3. Wheel decelerates and stops on a random segment
  4. Winner announcement modal appears with confetti animation
  5. Winner is added to the winners list

Spin duration options:

  • Short — Quick spin (~3 seconds)
  • Normal — Standard spin (~6 seconds) — default
  • Long — Extended dramatic spin (~10 seconds)

Configured in the Customize modal → Audio Effects → Spin Length.

4.2 Multi-Winner Mode

Select multiple winners in a single session.

How to configure:

  1. Open the Winners Count dropdown in the spin controls bar
  2. Select a preset: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100
  3. Or enter a custom number

Winner count limits:

  • Logged out: 5
  • Free account: 10
  • Pro account: Unlimited

Multi-winner modes:

  • Sequential — Spins one at a time, each winner announced individually
  • Batch — All winners selected at once, shown in a combined modal

During sequential multi-spin, a floating toast shows each winner as they’re selected (e.g., “#1 — Alice”, “#2 — Bob”).

After all winners are picked, a Multi-Winner Modal displays the complete list with position numbers and icons.

4.3 Remove After Win

When enabled, selected winners are automatically excluded from subsequent spins.

Toggle found in the spin controls bar.

Behavior:

  • Winner’s segment is visually removed from the wheel after selection
  • Excluded indices tracked for CSV wheels
  • Names can be re-added by clearing winners

Use cases: Raffles, giveaways, classroom participation tracking.

4.4 Countdown Timer

A pre-spin countdown for dramatic effect.

Configuration:

  • Toggle on/off in spin controls
  • Set duration in seconds (default: 5 seconds)
  • Visual countdown displayed on the wheel

Flow: User clicks SPIN → Countdown appears: 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… → Wheel automatically begins spinning.

4.5 Manual Pick

Manually select a winner from the participant list without spinning.

How to use:

  1. Click the Manual Pick button in the winners section
  2. A modal appears with all participant names
  3. Use the search box to filter names
  4. Click Pick next to any name

Modal features: Search/filter input, scrollable name list with index numbers, weight indicator (if weighted mode active), pick button per name.

The manually picked winner is recorded in history with pick_method: "manual".

4.6 Server-Side Cryptographic Pick

For large datasets (500+ names), the winner is selected server-side using cryptographically secure randomness.

How it works:

  1. Frontend sends spin request to the server
  2. Backend uses System.Security.Cryptography.RandomNumberGenerator.GetInt32()
  3. Uniform random selection from the full name pool
  4. Returns winner with complete audit trail

Audit response includes: algorithm name, timestamp, total pool size, excluded count, effective pool size, selected index, and probability percentage.

This ensures fairness even when the wheel can only display 250 segments visually.

5. Weighted Entries (Pro)

Assign custom probabilities to each name so some names are more likely to be selected.

Enabling Weighted Mode

Toggle Weighted Mode in the spin controls bar.

Configuring Weights

When weighted mode is active, each name shows weight controls:

  • Minus button — Decrease weight (minimum: 0.5)
  • Weight input — Direct number entry
  • Plus button — Increase weight (maximum: 100)
  • Probability % — Shows calculated chance of winning

Bulk Weight Actions

  • Reset All — Set all weights to 1.0
  • Double All — Multiply all weights by 2
  • Halve All — Divide all weights by 2

How Probability Works

Each name’s probability = (its weight / total of all weights) x 100%

Example: Alice (weight 3) = 50%, Bob (weight 2) = 33.3%, Charlie (weight 1) = 16.7%

The wheel segments visually reflect the weighted proportions — higher-weighted names get larger segments.

6. Teams Mode

6.1 Team Builder

Organize participants into color-coded teams with drag-and-drop.

How to access:

  1. Toggle Teams on in the spin controls bar
  2. Click the Team Builder button

Features:

  • Add/remove teams — create up to 10 teams
  • Edit team names — inline text editing
  • Drag-and-drop — move names between teams
  • Shuffle — randomly redistribute all members across teams
  • Copy All Teams — copy formatted team list to clipboard
  • Download CSV — export teams as CSV with Team/Name columns

10 Team Colors: Red (#ef4444), Blue (#3b82f6), Green (#22c55e), Yellow (#eab308), Purple (#a855f7), Pink (#ec4899), Indigo (#6366f1), Orange (#f97316), Teal (#14b8a6), Cyan (#06b6d4)

When teams mode is active, the wheel segments are color-coded by team. Spinning selects a winning team rather than an individual.

6.2 Team Split

Automatically distribute names evenly into teams.

How to use:

  1. Open the Team Split modal
  2. Select number of teams (2-10)
  3. Click Generate Teams
  4. Names are randomly distributed using Fisher-Yates shuffle

Actions: Reshuffle, Copy All, Download CSV (columns: Name, Team)

7. Customization

All customization is accessed via the Customize button in the top navigation bar, which opens the Customize Modal with 4 tabs.

7.1 Wheel Colors

Preset Color Sets: Vibrant, Pastels, Cool Tones, Warm Tones, Rainbow, Grayscale, Neon, Ocean, Sunset, Forest, and more.

Custom Colors:

  • Add new colors with the color picker (hex input)
  • Delete individual colors (minimum 1 required)
  • Drag-and-drop to reorder colors (changes segment order on wheel)
  • Colors cycle through the sequence for wheel segments

7.2 Center Button & Needle

Center Button:

  • Button Color — Background color of the SPIN button (default: #E8604C)
  • Button Text Color — Text color on the button (default: #FFFFFF)
  • Button Label — Custom text (default: “SPIN”)

Needle:

  • Needle Style — Classic style
  • Needle Color — Color picker (default: #E8604C)

7.3 Audio & Effects

Audio:

  • Volume slider (0-100%)
  • Background audio options: None, Classic Tick, Drum Roll, A Little Night Dance, Rhythm Boulevard, Mixaund, Malcolm Martin Muhammad
  • Each track has a Play/Pause preview button

Effects:

  • Applause — crowd cheer when winner selected (default: on)
  • Confetti — particle animation on winner (default: on)

Spin Length: Short (~3s), Normal (~6s, default), Long (~10s)

7.4 Page Background

Background type options:

  • None — Transparent/default background
  • Solid Color — Single color with hex picker
  • Custom Photo — Upload image (Pro feature, max 5MB, JPEG/PNG/GIF/WebP)

7.5 Text & Font

Settings:

  • Text Color — Hex color picker for wheel segment text
  • Font Family — Dropdown with 1,000+ Google Fonts (searchable with live preview)
  • Show Title — Toggle to display/hide wheel title above the wheel
  • Title — Custom title text
  • Description — Optional description text below title

7.6 Winner Icon

Available icons: Trophy (default), Gift, Star, Crown, Medal, Gem, Heart, Fire, Award

Icon color customizable via hex color picker (default: #EAB308 golden yellow).

8. Winners Management

8.1 Winners List

The Winners tab in the left panel shows all selected winners:

  • Position number (#1, #2, #3…)
  • Winner name
  • Winner icon (customizable)
  • Remove button per winner (trash icon)
  • Team info (if teams mode is active)

Empty state: “No winners yet. Spin the wheel to select winners.”

Actions: Manual Pick button, Clear All button (with confirmation).

8.2 Winner Announcement Modal

Single Winner:

  • Header: “We have a winner!”
  • Large winner name display (auto-scales font)
  • Custom winner icon with color
  • Confetti animation (if enabled)
  • Close button and remove winner button

Team Winner:

  • Header: “Winning Team!”
  • Team name with color highlight
  • Team member list
  • Highlighted member who was the actual spin result

Comment Picker Winner:

  • Shows comment author name
  • Comment text excerpt
  • Link to original social media post

8.3 Export Winners

Export options:

  • Copy to Clipboard — Plain text list
  • Download CSV — CSV file with positions, names, timestamps
  • Download PDF — Formatted PDF document

8.4 Winner Certificates (Pro)

Generate a professional PDF certificate proving fair random selection.

Single Spin Certificate: winner name, selection method, timestamp. Options to include participant list and audit log.

Session Certificate: all winners from the current session, complete spin log, session summary statistics.

9. Live / Full-Screen Mode

Enter presentation mode for classrooms, events, and live streams.

How to enter: Click the Full Screen button in the top navigation.

Live Mode Features:

  • Dark gradient background
  • Wheel fills the entire viewport
  • All controls hidden (clean presentation)
  • Live Picker Dropdown (bottom-right) for quick winner count selection
  • Winner modal overlays in full-screen
  • Multi-spin toast notifications float over the wheel
  • Exit button to return to normal view

Ideal for: Classroom projectors, event raffles, live stream audience engagement, meeting icebreakers.

10. Saving & Loading Wheels

Saving a Wheel

Click the Save button in the top navigation. Requires a free account.

What’s saved: all names, color scheme, customization settings, winner history, background image, audio/effects preferences, teams configuration, weighted entries, display mode, and title.

Auto-save: If you have unsaved changes and navigate away, an Unsaved Work Modal prompts you to save or discard.

Loading a Wheel

Click the Load button to open the dashboard and select a previously saved wheel.

Local storage backup: Wheel data is cached locally as a fallback for unsaved work.

11. Dashboard

URL: /random-name-picker/dashboard (requires login)

The dashboard provides a central hub for managing all saved wheels.

Wheel List

Each wheel card displays: wheel name (editable inline), last updated timestamp, participant count, winner count, spin count, and visibility (public/private badge).

Actions Per Wheel

  • Edit — Load wheel into the spinner
  • Duplicate — Create a copy with “(Copy)” appended
  • Delete — Soft-delete with confirmation
  • Share — Copy share link to clipboard
  • View Winners — Navigate to winners page
  • View History — Navigate to audit log

Dashboard Stats

Total wheels created, total spins across all wheels, total winners selected, plan tier and remaining limits.

12. Sharing & Embedding

12.1 Share Links

Public Share URL: When a wheel is set to public, a share URL is auto-generated with a 16-character random token. Format: uplup.com/random-name-picker/results/{shareUrl}

Custom URL: Set a custom slug for your wheel.

12.2 Embed Code

Embed the wheel on any website using a script tag:

<div id="uplup-wheel-{wheelId}"></div>
<script src="https://uplup.com/embed/wheel.js?id={wheelId}" async></script>

Embed features: Responsive (adapts to container), full spinning capability, winner tracking via localStorage, fullscreen button, winners log toggle.

12.3 Social Sharing

Share winners via: Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Copy Link.

13. Spin History & Audit Log

URL: /random-name-picker/history/{wheelId} (requires login, wheel owner)

Action Types Tracked

wheel_created, wheel_loaded, wheel_saved, wheel_renamed, wheel_deleted, wheel_shared, wheel_unshared, wheel_duplicated, names_added, names_removed, names_cleared, names_shuffled, spin_started, spin_completed, winner_removed, winners_cleared, settings_changed, live_mode_entered, live_mode_exited, export_csv

Filtering

  • Action Type — Dropdown to filter by specific action
  • Date Range — Start and end date pickers
  • Search — Text search by action details

Display

Color-coded by action type (green=create, red=delete, blue=load, purple=settings, orange=update). Relative timestamps with full date on hover. Timezone-aware. Paginated at 100 entries per page.

14. Form/Quiz Import Bridge

Import names from Uplup form or quiz submissions directly into a wheel.

4-Step Workflow

Step 1 — Source Selection: Choose between “Create your own wheel” (manual) or “Import from form” (pull from submissions).

Step 2 — Form Selection: Lists all forms/quizzes in the user’s account with names and submission counts.

Step 3 — Field Mapping: All mappable form fields displayed with radio buttons (Mailchimp-style). Select which field’s responses become the “Name” on the wheel. Auto-selection priority: Full Name > Short Answer > Short Text > Email > Lead Capture. Excluded field types: Header, Heading, Paragraph, Divider, Spacer, Icon, Media Banner, Form Submission.

Step 4 — Name Preview: Checkbox per name (all selected by default). Remove Duplicates toggle (unchecked by default). Name count display. Create Wheel button.

15. Comment Picker Integration

Select winners from social media comments.

Supported platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube.

Comment picker wheels have special behaviors: winner count locked to 1 (multi-winner disabled), winner modal shows comment text and link to original post.

Shared Winners Page at /winners/{shareId} auto-refreshes every 10 seconds with platform-branded header.

16. Discord Bot

Commands:

  • /spin members — Select from server members
  • /spin custom — Custom comma-separated entries
  • /spin reactions — Select from message reactors
  • /spin voice — Select from voice channel users

Features: Animated GIF wheel spins, 5 color themes, open-source on GitHub.

17. API Reference

Base URL: https://api.uplup.com/api/v2/wheels

Authentication: Session-based (user_id + session_id) or API key (Bearer token).

26 REST endpoints available. See the full API documentation for request/response shapes, authentication details, and code examples.

Key endpoints:

  • GET /wheels — List all wheels
  • POST /wheels — Create wheel
  • GET /wheels/{wheelId} — Get wheel details
  • PATCH /wheels/{wheelId} — Update wheel
  • DELETE /wheels/{wheelId} — Delete wheel
  • POST /wheels/{wheelId}/spin-pick — Server-side cryptographic pick
  • POST /wheels/{wheelId}/csv — Upload CSV
  • GET /wheels/stats — Platform statistics

18. Plans & Limits

FeatureFreePro
Names per wheel1001,000,000+
Monthly spins10-20Unlimited
Saved wheels3Unlimited
Multi-winner max5 (logged out) / 10 (logged in)Unlimited
CSV uploadNoYes
Weighted entriesNoYes
Custom backgroundsNoYes
Custom fonts (1,000+ Google Fonts)NoYes
Winner certificates (PDF)NoYes
Button/needle customizationNoYes
Color presets & custom colorsYesYes
Audio effectsYesYes
Teams modeYesYes
Live/full-screen modeYesYes
Share & embedYesYes
Spin historyYesYes
Winner export (CSV/PDF)YesYes
Form/quiz importYesYes
API access1,000 req/hr10,000 req/hr

19. FAQ

Q: Is the random selection truly fair?

A: Yes. For small wheels, the browser handles randomization. For large wheels (500+ names), the server uses System.Security.Cryptography.RandomNumberGenerator — a cryptographically secure random number generator. Every spin includes a full audit trail.

Q: How many names can I add?

A: Free accounts support up to 100 names. Pro accounts support over 1 million names via CSV upload.

Q: Can I use this for a classroom?

A: Absolutely. Popular with teachers for student participation, group assignments, and making activities fun. Full-screen mode works great on projectors.

Q: How do I prove the selection was fair?

A: Pro users can download a Winner Certificate (PDF) with the winner name, method, timestamp, participant list, and audit log.

Q: Can I embed the wheel on my website?

A: Yes. Save your wheel, then use the embed code (script tag) to add it to any website.

Q: What is weighted mode?

A: Weighted mode lets you assign different probabilities to names. A name with weight 3 is three times more likely to be selected than one with weight 1.

Q: Can I pick multiple winners?

A: Yes. Use the Winners Count dropdown to select how many (up to 100 for Pro users). Sequential or batch mode available.

Q: Does the wheel work on mobile?

A: Yes. Fully responsive with touch-friendly controls.

Q: Can I import names from a form or quiz?

A: Yes. Use the Import from Form flow to pull respondent names from any Uplup form or quiz.

Q: Is there a Discord bot?

A: Yes. Open-source Discord bot available for random selection using server members, custom entries, reactions, or voice channel users.