I am really good at remembering names, but it isn’t a natural thing. I actually have a neat trick for remembering names, and if you’re bad with names, this might help you too. It’s called READ to remember names. I admit, I love acronyms, so this works for me very well.
R – Repeat. Repeat the name back to the person, try to do full name, and say it correctly, as soon as you hear it.
E – Examine the name. Think if you know anyone else with the name, and if so, try to relate a characteristic of this person to the other person you know. If it’s a unique name, try to see yourself spelling or writing the name down on a piece of paper. I actually type it in my mind, as I type 80 wpm. Picturing which fingers would depress the letters in their name is very helpful for me.
A – Ask about the name. If you’ve never heard of the name, ask about the origin. Ask if the name was given to them because of family history, or from a favorite aunt or uncle. Tell yourself the story in your head.
D – Deliver. Deliver the person to someone else in a room. Including their name, a small bit of the examination you did, a little of the story you heard, and then say the name again.
Your turn:
Do you have better ways of remembering names?
What questions do you have about remembering names?
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
This is extremely helpful with all the events coming in the next few days. With unGeeked and the after hour parties, this will definitely come in handy. Thanks Phil!
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Wow, thanks for the tip Paul!
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I’d love to add a tip, but I can’t. Remembering names has been the bane of my existence since forever.
I recently resolved to not let my past (terrible) performance define me, but hadn’t found a good way to change things until this idea. Awesome.
Oh, and: I introduced myself briefly at SOBCon, Phil; looking forward to reading more here. Thanks for the post!
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I like to use a little trick I saw in the movie “The House Bunny”, where you growl the person’s name out loud. Well, not right in front of them of course, that would be weird.
It seems to work for me!
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Dang! Pete beat me to it. On behalf of all of us who have trouble with names (I blame the 80′s)—thanks so much for this advice, Paul.
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Hey, that’s a great tip! Thanks for your help… umm… what was your name again?
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What a great post! Thanks for the help – I’ll try these out soon.
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