NameGenChallenge.py

import random

def sample(dictionary):
    # the first argument can be omitted as it defaults to 0
    randomIndex = random.randrange(len(dictionary))
    return dictionary[randomIndex]

def promptForGender():
    genderList = {0: "male", 1: "female"}

    response = raw_input("What Name Gender would you like? (m/f) (enter 'r' for random)")
    response = response.lower()

    # convert user input into some sort of normalized gender format
    # this could stay "m" and "f" instead
    if response == "m":
        return "male"
    elif response == "f":
        return "female"
    elif response == "r":
        return sample(genderList)
    else:
        print "please enter 'M' ,'F', or 'R' to initiate the Random Name Generator"

def genName():
    boyNames = {0: "Jack",1: "Andrew", 2: "Mike",3: "Terry",4: "Torvald", 5: "Gatsby"}
    girlNames = {0: "Alice", 1: "Hana", 2: "Clare", 3: "Janet", 4: "Daisy"}

    gender = promptForGender()

    if gender == "male":
        return sample(boyNames)
    elif gender == "female":
        return sample(girlNames)

print "Welcome to the Simple Random Name Generator by Liquid Think!"
print genName()