Rails form_for select default option - ruby-on-rails

Question

I have a form_for select where the options are being defined from within the model. I am trying to get it to display a placeholder option but cannot figure out how to.
The Model:
class Factoid < ActiveRecord::Base
attr_accessible :description, :name, :title
validates_presence_of :description, :name, :title
validates_uniqueness_of :title
NAMES = "Angela", "Geordie", "Jared", "Jennifer", "Kevin", "Matthew", "Oscar", "Owen", "Regina", "Todd", "Vaibhavi", "Zack"
UNRANSACKABLE_ATTRIBUTES = ["id", "updated_at"]
def self.ransackable_attributes auth_object = nil
(column_names - UNRANSACKABLE_ATTRIBUTES) + _ransackers.keys
end
end
The Form:
<%= form_for #factoid, :html => { :class => 'form-horizontal' } do |f| %>
<div class="control-group">
<%= f.label :title, :class => 'control-label' %>
<div class="controls">
<%= f.text_field :title, :class => 'text_field' %>
</div>
</div>
<div class="control-group">
<%= f.label :description, :class => 'control-label' %>
<div class="controls">
<%= f.text_area :description, :class => 'text_area' %>
</div>
</div>
<div class="control-group">
<%= f.label :name, :class => 'control-label' %>
<div class="controls">
<%= f.select :name, :collection => Factoid::NAMES %>
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-actions">
<%= f.submit nil, :class => 'btn btn-primary' %>
<%= link_to t('.cancel', :default => t("helpers.links.cancel")),
factoids_path, :class => 'btn' %>
</div>
<% end %>
The second issue is that the dropdown menu is displaying the word "collection" at the top of it (See screenshot below). How do I get read of that. Ideally I want to have a dropdown menu with a placeholder of "Names" that is also displayed at the top when the dropdown menu is opened.

Answer 1

For your text field try something like:
<%= f.text_field :title, :class => 'text_field', value: 'my_default_value' %>
for your select try:
<%= f.select :name, Factoid::NAMES %>
See the docs for select and the rails guide for typical usage (I think the method I've shown you will not work upon submitting the form, see the guides linked for explanation, I'm not sure though).