Ask HN: How to remember names?

2 points·niyazpk··3 comments

Even though lately I am putting a lot of effort into it, I have this problem of frequently forgetting the names of people. Sometimes I forget very familiar names. This has sometimes resulted in pretty embarrassing situations. Is there any tip or trick that can help me?

Thanks in advance.

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I'm bad at this too, a few tricks I use:

- Say the other person's name out loud as you are introduced.

- Picture their name written out.

- If it is a common name, picture a friend or famous person with the same name.

- If it is a foreign or uncommon name, break it down by syllable and picture things with names that sound like those syllables.

- Try as often as you can to recall the names. If you're in a new group of people, mentally go around the group and recall everyone's name every so often.

The hard part is remembering to use the tricks, though :)

Many smartphones will allow you to attach an image to an addrbook entry, use it to consciously! Everytime you call and recv a call, you will see the name+img together - so you can associate name with a img and vice versa!

Use a funny memory aid that is a term you a very familiar with that sounds funny and similar to the actual name or find a short form of the name. My name is very much unpronounceable let alone memorable for most people in the world so I made up a new short version of it, Tad Chef. My actual name is Tadeusz Szewczyk.

Your nick name is a good example: "niyazpk" is very difficult to memorize. It sounds like a "no yes pic". This memory aid should work especially when you try to imagine the appearance of a no yes pic.

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