How to select random names from a list in Excel?
Supposing you have a list of names locates in column A in Excel, for quickly selecting random name from this list, what would you do? Actually, you can select random name from list with formula. Beside the formula method, we will show you a handy add-in to easily solve this problem.
Select random name from a list with formula
Select random names from a list without duplicates
Easily select random name from a list with Kutools for Excel
Select random name from a list with formula
Please do as follows to select random name from a list in Excel.
1. Select a blank cell next to first name of the list, enter the below formula into it and then press the Enter key. You can see a random name is displayed in the selected cell.
=INDEX($A:$A,RANDBETWEEN(1,COUNTA($A:$A)),1)
Notes:
Select random names from a list without duplicates
As the above formula may cause duplicate random names in the result, in this section, we will show you two formulas to help selecting random names from a list without duplicates in Excel.
1. Select a blank cell next to the first name of the list (here I select B2), enter the below formula into it and press the Enter key. Then select the result cell and drag its Auto Fill Handle over the helper column cells to get the other results.
=RAND()
2. Select a blank cell to ouput the random name (here I select C2), enter the below formula into it and press the Enter key. Select the result cell and then drag its Auto Fill Handle over the cells to display the random names.
=INDEX($A$2:$A$18,RANK(B2,$B$2:$B$18))
Then you will get random names from a specified list without duplicates as the above screenshot shown.
Select random name from a list with Kutools for Excel
With the Sort Range Randomly utility of Kutools for Excel, you can quickly select random names from list in Excel.
Before applying Kutools for Excel, please download and install it firstly.
1. Highlight the list of names you want to select randomly. And click Kutools > Select > Select Range Randomly. See screenshot:
2. In the Sort/Select Range Randomly dialog box and under the Select tab, please configure as follows.
- Specify number of cells you want to select in the No. of cells to select box;
- Choose Select random cells option in the Select Type section;
- Click the OK or Apply button. See screenshot:
Now the specified number of cells in the name list are selected randomly.
Note: If you want to list the randomly selected names together, please copy and paste them to other cells.
If you want to have a free trial (30-day) of this utility, please click to download it, and then go to apply the operation according above steps.
Easily select random name from a list with Kutools for Excel
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