We had a similar need last year. I created an Excel spreadsheet of the names and number sold. I then created a macro in Excel that reads the spreadsheet, creates a new spreadsheet, formats each cell to be the same font, size, and outlined so each cell could be cut out. This ensured each name was the same size.
We also had the requirement that if a student sold over x units, their name was entered two times the number sold. If the student sold over y units, their name was entered three times the number sold.
If you want the spreadsheet, I can e-mail it to you. I can remove our additional requirement or modify it to meet your needs.
I dunno any programs to use but I would just type up their names in word or another program then just cut it up and put it in a box to draw from. That might be the simpliest way to do this, using a specific program might make it harder then it needs to be