Generate random names in sql

Question

I have 5 random names each for male and female. I need to insert random names based on the gender. But how can we insert names in random from a set of 5 names in SQL. Is it possible?

Answer 1

select name from table order by newid()

Answer 2

Create a table with the names, and an integer ID. Then use RAND() with % 5 to get down to a value between 0 and 4 inclusively. Add 1 if you want a male, and 6 if you want a female. Like so:

Create table RandomNames
(id int,
 name varchar(100),
 gender char(1)
)

insert into RandomNames
(id, name,gender)
select 1,'Bill','M'
union
select 2,'John','M'
union
select 3,'Steve','M'
union
select 4,'Mike','M'
union
select 5,'Phil','M'
union
select 6,'Sarah','F'
union
select 7,'Ann','F'
union
select 8,'Marie','F'
union
select 9,'Liz','F'
union
select 10,'Stephanie','F'

declare @wantedGender char(1)

select @wantedGender = 'M'

select name 
from RandomNames
where id =  (CAST(RAND()*100 as int) % 5) + case when @wantedGender = 'M' then 1 else 6 end