How to randomly select rows in SQL?

Question

SELECT TOP 5 Id, Name FROM customerNames
ORDER BY NEWID()

That said, everybody seems to come to this page for the more general answer to your question:

Selecting a random row in SQL

Select a random row with MySQL:

SELECT column FROM table
ORDER BY RAND()
LIMIT 1

Select a random row with PostgreSQL:

SELECT column FROM table
ORDER BY RANDOM()
LIMIT 1

Select a random row with Microsoft SQL Server:

SELECT TOP 1 column FROM table
ORDER BY NEWID()

Select a random row with IBM DB2

SELECT column, RAND() as IDX 
FROM table 
ORDER BY IDX FETCH FIRST 1 ROWS ONLY

Select a random record with Oracle:

SELECT column FROM
( SELECT column FROM table
ORDER BY dbms_random.value )
WHERE rownum = 1

Select a random row with sqlite:

SELECT column FROM table 
ORDER BY RANDOM() LIMIT 1

SELECT TOP 5 Id, Name FROM customerNames ORDER BY NEWID()

In case someone wants a PostgreSQL solution:

select id, name
from customer
order by random()
limit 5;

Maybe this site will be of assistance.

For those who don't want to click through:

SELECT TOP 1 column FROM table
ORDER BY NEWID()

There is a nice Microsoft SQL Server 2005 specific solution here. Deals with the problem where you are working with a large result set (not the question I know).

Selecting Rows Randomly from a Large Table http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc441928.aspx