Never draw your own name for Secret Santa

drawnames is a free Secret Santa generator that prevents participants from drawing their own name. Everyone receives a valid match the first time, so the draw never needs to be restarted.

Comparison showing a confusing paper Secret Santa draw where someone draws their own name, followed by a successful digital draw where Emma, Alex, and Maya each receive a different match.

Your Secret Santa match should never be yourself

With a traditional Secret Santa draw using paper slips, there's only a 37% chance (Grinstead & Snell, 2006) that no one draws their own name.

A succesful paper draw often takes two or three tries. And each time someone draws their own name, the group must either start over or let only those people draw again, making the final draw less secret and less random.

drawnames prevents self-draws automatically, keeping every Secret Santa draw fair, secret, and final.
Comparison showing an unsuccessful manual name draw with a 37% match rate versus drawnames creating complete Secret Santa matches with a 100% result.

Designed so everyone draws someone else

Your own name is excluded by default

Before the draw starts, drawnames automatically excludes everyone's own name from the names they can draw.
Drawnames screen showing Emily as the name drawn for the participant.

The draw always completes

drawnames matches everyone in a single draw, so no one is left without a name to draw or left with their own.
Secret Santa group screen showing participants’ wish lists and confirmation that everyone has drawn a name.

Works with every exclusion rule

Even when you set exclusions for siblings, couples, or anyone else, no one can draw their own name.
Exclusions settings screen with buttons to set exclusions or select ‘Don’t set exclusions,’ plus an overview of participants and their assigned exclusion rules.

Demo draw without self-matches

Who are you drawing names with?
Santa This is you
Rudolph
Dancer
Prancer
Cupid
Your drawn name is...
???

Ready to start your Secret Santa?

Organize a worry-free Secret Santa draw, with no self-matches and no need to restart.
Start Secret Santa

What are our fans saying?

Kylie

US • December 4, 2025
It was amazing, no names were pulled twice and neither did anyone get there own name.

Beba

US • December 26, 2025
I loved this!!! It made our family gift exchange so easy and everything went smoothly. Last year we made papers and picked out of a bowl and we had to re do it too many times as we kept getting ourselves. This made everything so easy.

NiJonna

US • September 1, 2025
We absolutely loved it! Our department tried to draw names manually in a paper cup and someone drew their own name. I searched online and your company appeared. Just a great concept for people to share their interest, highlight actual items that can be purchased and shipped so you don't have to guess if you made the right choice. We had so much fun exchanging gifts and agreed that it will be a new tradition to use your app. Cuddos!!

Mihla

US • March 1, 2026
Everything went on smoothly, it's the best website to draw names for Secret Santa. The system generated names perfectly.

Other helpful Secret Santa features

Set exclusions

Add exclusions for couples, siblings, household members, or anyone else who should not be matched.
Exclusions settings screen in drawnames showing Chris selected as someone Emily cannot draw.

Secret Santa for large groups

Organize Secret Santa for a small team, a whole company, or any large group.
Secret Santa setup screen in drawnames for adding participants in a large group draw for Secret Santa.

No repeat matches

Reuse last year’s group on drawnames, and each participant will be matched with someone new this year.
Past celebration screen with an option to reuse the group while avoiding repeat matches.

Common questions and answers

Yes, the names are drawn randomly. It works just like the traditional method of drawing names from a hat, except that you'll never draw your own name. If you draw names with us year after year, the organizer can re-use the previous year's group. We ensure that everyone draws a different name than they did last year.

If the celebration has at least four members, the organizer can enable the option for everyone to draw two names. This can be set on the group page by selecting 'Manage settings' and then choosing 'Draw two names'. Each person will then be able to draw a second name. Note that exclusions do not apply in this mode and different gift amounts cannot be specified.

Yes, that's no problem. We'll draw a different name for each person! It works the same way as the old-fashioned method of drawing names from a hat, but you'll never draw your own name.

Only the organizer can view the list of drawn names, and only after the celebration date has passed. Until then, the list remains hidden. The organizer can view the list by going to the group page, selecting 'Manage settings', and choosing 'View drawn names'.

Unfortunately, you can't redraw the names. And you also can't change any exclusions once the names have been drawn. It is possible to add a group member or remove someone from the group, even after the draw. If you still want to redraw the names, the organizer can set up a new group with a different name. Just make sure you delete the previous celebration if you're not using it again.

Trusted for millions of gift exchanges

Every year, millions of people around the world use drawnames to draw names fairly, avoid do-overs, and keep gift exchanges fun for everyone.

25 Years

of bringing loved ones together
An illustration of the planet

42M+

names drawn yearly
An illustration of a person liking gifts on a mobile phone

4.8/5

app user rating
QR-code to download the drawnames app