A Random Name Picker API, Free and Without a Key

The Four Endpoints

Every endpoint accepts GET with query parameters or POST with a JSON body, so you can test in a browser address bar and build with a proper request later. names takes a JSON array, or one string split on commas or new lines. Each response includes drawn_at, an ISO timestamp from our server.

# request
curl "https://namewheel.org/api/v1/pick?names=Abd,Maya,Jordan:3&count=2"

# response
{ "winner": "Jordan", "winners": [ { "name": "Jordan", "index": 2 }, { "name": "Abd", "index": 0 } ],
  "entries": 3, "tickets": 5, "drawn_at": "2026-10-29T13:11:09.095Z", "source": "crypto.randomInt" }

curl -X POST https://namewheel.org/api/v1/shuffle \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"names": ["Abd", "Maya", "Jordan", "Priya"]}'

{ "order": ["Priya", "Abd", "Jordan", "Maya"], "entries": 4, ... }

curl "https://namewheel.org/api/v1/teams?names=a,b,c,d,e,f,g&teams=3"

{ "teams": [["e", "b"], ["g", "a", "d"], ["c", "f"]], "team_count": 3, "entries": 7, ... }

curl "https://namewheel.org/api/v1/numbers?min=1&max=75&count=5"

{ "numbers": [41, 7, 68, 22, 55], "min": 1, "max": 75, "unique": true, ... }

Errors

Bad input answers HTTP 400 with an error code and a plain English detail, for example {"error": "need_names", "detail": "Send at least 2 names, as a JSON array or comma separated."}. Going over the rate limit answers HTTP 429 with {"error": "rate_limited"}; wait a minute and try again.

How the Randomness Works

All four endpoints use crypto.randomInt from Node.js, which draws from the operating system's secure random source and uses rejection sampling, so a range like 1 to 7 is not quietly biased the way random() % 7 would be. Shuffles use the Fisher and Yates method, which makes every order equally likely. Weighted picks lay out one ticket per weight and draw a ticket, then remove the winner before drawing the next.

We checked the endpoints the boring way before publishing this page: 60,000 weighted picks with weights 1, 2, 1 and 4 came back at 0.99, 2.03, 1.00 and 3.98, and 40,000 team splits put a given person in a team of two 57.4 percent of the time, against 57.1 percent expected when two teams of two and one of three share seven people.

Code Examples

JavaScript in the browser or Node 18 and later

const res = await fetch('https://namewheel.org/api/v1/pick', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ names: ['Abd', 'Maya', 'Jordan'], count: 1 })
});
const { winner } = await res.json();
console.log(winner);

Python

import requests

r = requests.post("https://namewheel.org/api/v1/teams",
                  json={"names": ["Abd", "Maya", "Jordan", "Priya"], "teams": 2}, timeout=10)
for i, team in enumerate(r.json()["teams"], 1):
    print(f"Team {i}: {', '.join(team)}")

Google Sheets with Apps Script

Paste this into Extensions, Apps Script, save, and type =PICKNAME(A2:A40) in any cell. It draws a fresh winner each time the sheet recalculates, so copy the result and paste it as a value once you have your winner.

function PICKNAME(range) {
  const names = range.flat().filter(String);
  const res = UrlFetchApp.fetch('https://namewheel.org/api/v1/pick', {
    method: 'post', contentType: 'application/json',
    payload: JSON.stringify({ names })
  });
  return JSON.parse(res.getContentText()).winner;
}

A Discord or Twitch bot

Bots are the most common use. Read the entries from your command, call /api/v1/pick, and post the winner with the drawn_at time. Keep one request per command; the limit of 60 requests a minute per address is far above what a chat command needs.

Certified Draws: Results Anyone Can Check

Certified draws are the same draws that power NameWheel's verified wheel spins, available from your own code with a free API key. They exist for giveaways, raffles and any draw where somebody might say it was rigged.

1. Commit. You send the title, the entries and at least 16 characters of your own random text, called client entropy. Before anything is drawn, our server picks a secret seed and records its SHA-256 hash, the commitment.
2. Draw. The winner comes from an HMAC of the seed over your entropy and the hash of the entry list. Neither side can steer it alone: we cannot pick the seed after seeing your entropy, and you cannot predict our seed.
3. Reveal and sign. Finishing the draw reveals the seed and signs the whole record with our Ed25519 key. The public page at namewheel.org/v/CODE recomputes everything in the visitor's browser.

curl -X POST https://namewheel.org/api/draw/start \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nw_live_YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title": "October raffle", "entries": ["Abd", "Maya", "Jordan"], "clientEntropy": "8f2c1e9a77b04d3c"}'

Create a key in your dashboard settings with a free account. You can hold five active keys and revoke any of them there. A key can run draws, freeze lists and read your plan, and nothing else: it cannot change the account, its email or its payments. An account can run up to 20 certified draws in any 24 hours. Call these endpoints from your server, and never put a key in code that runs in a visitor's browser.

The full protocol, including the exact bytes that are hashed and signed, is in the TrueSpin specification.

Limits and Fair Use

The API is provided as is, without an uptime promise, under the site terms. If you are building something that will send more than a few thousand requests a day, tell us first so we can plan for it. Please do not use it to choose anything where the law requires a licensed random number generator, such as real money gambling.

Other Ways to Build With NameWheel

API Questions