Question 970012
Picking them one by one,
you would have 9 choices for the first pick,
which in each case would leave 8 choices for the second pick,
which in each case would leave 7 choices for the third pick.
All in all, there would be {{{9*8*7}}} permutations of names picked in sequence.
However, each 3-name combination can be picked in {{{3*2}}} different orders
(3 possibilities for first pick, and 2 for the second pick).
Since it does not seem that you care about picking order,
and those {{{9*8*7}}} permutations include
{{{3*2}}} different picking orders of the each 3-names combinations,
the number of possible combinations is
{{{9*8*7/(3*2)=(9/3)*(8/2)*7=3*4*7=84}}} .