Struggling to Remember Names? Here's Some Help!

[Physics is Phun]

i've realized that I'm quite poor at remembering people's names.
I've been looking online at all sorts of advice sites that give tips on how to remember people's names better, but I thought I would ask for any tips that people have personally found to work well that maybe I haven't found on a site.
thanks all.

 

[Rach3]

I don't have enough respect for people to bother remembering their names. But if you do, a good way to remember them is to use them in conversation frequently.

 

[rcgldr]

Some names are easier than others, take the sisterhood:

Evo - Evol woman.
Tsu - Tsunami (all hurricanes used to be named after women).
Math Is Hard - classic talking Barbie doll expression

or my name, Jeff Reid - think Reid alert whenever I post something.

Fred Garvin - unless you never watched old SNL episodes.

 

[Moonbear]

My solution is to just tell people outright that I'm terrible at remembering names, so please don't take offense if I have to ask again. It beats handing out nametags to everyone.

Those mnemonic tricks people claim work don't work for me, like the ones where you're supposed to visualize some object the person reminds you of and then somehow connect their name to the object. For example, you meet a guy named Mike and you picture his head shaped like a big microphone => mic =>Mike. But, the next time I see the person, for the life of me, I can't remember what feature I was focusing on...I'll end up noticing him nodding his head and call him Bob. So, it's rather hopeless for me.

 

[Moonbear]

Some names are easier than others, take the sisterhood:

Evo - Evol woman.
Tsu - Tsunami (all hurricanes used to be named after women).
Math Is Hard - classic talking Barbie doll expression

or my name, Jeff Reid - think Reid alert whenever I post something.

Fred Garvin - unless you never watched old SNL episodes.

Funny thing is I have no problem keeping track of nicknames around here (most of the time anyway), but normal names, forget it.

 

[Danger]

I'm lousy at it too, but that's laziness (or often drunkenness). When I take the trouble, it's easy. To start with, always repeat the name as soon as you're introduced (ie: 'Nice to meet you, Michelle.') The way that I use for longer term memory is to associate the face or some peculiarity with something familiar. As a very obvious example, let's say that you're introduced to a guy named 'Jack Minor' (real name; he started a bird sanctuary where I used to live). You can picture a playing card Knave with his face on it digging coal.

edit: Alright, you bastards. Wanna hold off long enough for me to post? Rach's was the only response when I started typing this.

 

[scorpa]

I am awful at names. There have been people that I have sat next to in lectures for an entire semester and never known their names, I'm sure they must have told me at one time, but there comes a point where you can't ask what it is anymore, and have to resort to trying to sneak a peak at their notebooks or something hoping they write their names on them lol.

 

[rcgldr]

moonbear - who would moon a bear?

The bear connection also helps me to remember a tv show that explained when confronted by a bear, you should try to make your body look as large as possible. Apparently once women get married, they develop a fear of bear attacks.

 

[Moonbear]

moonbear - who would moon a bear?

The bear connection also helps me to remember a tv show that explained when confronted by a bear, you should try to make your body look as large as possible. Apparently once women get married, they develop a fear of bear attacks.

Maybe it's more that names just stick with me if I see them in writing rather than have them told to me. If I see someone's name on a nametag, I often remember it better than if someone just introduces me to them.

 

[Danger]

That sounds as if your visual cortex has more communication with your memory centre (that's around the hippocampus/amigdala/etc. area, isnt' it?) than your auditory cortex. Since you're the one who knows about that kind of thing, is it plausible?

 

[Moonbear]

That sounds as if your visual cortex has more communication with your memory centre (that's around the hippocampus/amigdala/etc. area, isnt' it?) than your auditory cortex. Since you're the one who knows about that kind of thing, is it plausible?

I don't study much to do with learning/memory stuff. But, there are people who are better visual learners than auditory learners. I've never been much of an auditory learner...I don't pick up much from lecture type material unless I engage in a discussion of it or there are plenty of visual aids for me to follow. And I learn far better by watching and doing than by someone telling me stuff. I think it's why I enjoy working in a lab so much.

 

[Pengwuino]

Funny thing is I have no problem keeping track of nicknames around here (most of the time anyway), but normal names, forget it.

Pretty easy when the nickname is on the post

 

[wolram]

What do you think it is like when you meet some one who starts talking to
you as if they have known you for years, and they had years ago, but you have no clue as to who the heck they are.

 

[siddharth]

Sometimes, in really akward situations, what I do is ask for the spelling of their name, while casually asking for the telephone number.

 

[BobG]

Those mnemonic tricks people claim work don't work for me, like the ones where you're supposed to visualize some object the person reminds you of and then somehow connect their name to the object. For example, you meet a guy named Mike and you picture his head shaped like a big microphone => mic =>Mike. But, the next time I see the person, for the life of me, I can't remember what feature I was focusing on...I'll end up noticing him nodding his head and call him Bob. So, it's rather hopeless for me.

What the heck??! You see a guy with a head shaped like a microphone and he reminds you of me??!

 

[Moonbear]

What the heck??! You see a guy with a head shaped like a microphone and he reminds you of me??!

Sorry.

Siddharth, I'm always afraid if I ask for the spelling that they'll look at me like I'm nuts as they answer, "B-E-T-H" or "J-O-H-N."

 

[brewnog]

I don't remember names OR faces, gets a bit embarassing at times and can come across as being quite rude. The trick is to repeat their name when they introduce themself, and stare them in the eyes and say "nice to meet you BRUCE" or "BORIS" or whatever their name is. And then keep repeating it. And put it in your phone to remind you the next day.

 

[Lisa!]

1. If we don't remember people, that's all their fault's or their parents'.(their name should be easy to remember and more important we never forget people's names who are sort of special)
2. I usually have no probelm remebering people's names but sometimes I pretend that I don't remember them. Since here people think they're very special for you if you remeber them and it never occurred to them that might be the greatness of your memory to remeber them NOT the greatness of them!

 

[BobG]

Sorry.

Siddharth, I'm always afraid if I ask for the spelling that they'll look at me like I'm nuts as they answer, "B-E-T-H" or "J-O-H-N."

Or "J-O-N" or even "J-H-O-N". I don't think I've seen Beth spelled very many ways, but most names have multiple spellings.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'm pretty good at remembering people's names. I meet about three new people a day and when they give me their name I repeat it aloud looking at their face. They usually nod and say "That's right." Then I repeat it to myself a couple times in my head while I look at their face, saying "That's Lynn," or "That's Joe". Then I make a point to recall it a couple times in the ensuing conversation. This almost always works unless I don't see them again for a long time.

 

[Physics is Phun]

I can't remember the names of the people in my class, but I can remember that Collette cut my hair once 8 months ago...wtf!

 

[Moonbear]

I don't remember names OR faces, gets a bit embarassing at times and can come across as being quite rude. The trick is to repeat their name when they introduce themself, and stare them in the eyes and say "nice to meet you BRUCE" or "BORIS" or whatever their name is. And then keep repeating it. And put it in your phone to remind you the next day.

If I meet just one person, that works well enough. I can just keep repeating it to myself until it sticks. But, when I have real trouble is when I walk into a meeting, and they go around the table introducing everyone at once. I might remember one of them, but then it's "okay who was Mary, and who was Jen...and was that guy with the glasses John or Joe?"

But, now here's the really scary part...I can remember the names of people's dogs I met in the park once, and while I don't recognize the owner the next time I see them, I recognize the dog and remember the dog's name...the yellow lab with one leg missing is Trike, but I only know her owner as "Trike's owner."