Depends how much randomness you need. I usually just use a rand alpha of length 6-8. You can also use dictionary words (see gfycat). Sample Ruby code: 8.tim

Depends how much randomness you need. I usually just use a rand alpha of length 6-8. You can also use dictionary words (see gfycat). Sample Ruby code: 8.times.map { (('a'..'z').to_a + (0..9).to_a).sample }.join It's less collision resistant than UUID, of course.