• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

[NF] Does anyone here have trouble remembering names?

P

Phantonym

Guest
Yes and no. To me, not remembering a person's name and/or other details they've shared with me personally means that there isn't enough respect from my part. And I expect that from the other person as well. So, being absent minded is not really an excuse because you haven't made any significant efforts to remember things. And the feeling of embarrassment is strong and unpleasant enough to try not to experience that frequently.

I used to be a lot worse when younger, in from one ear, out the other, even when I did try to remember things like that. Now I just try to pay attention and say the name over and over in my mind along with trying to imprint their face into my mind. It's like a small file in my head and whenever I meet the person, I go over the details again, so that they wouldn't slip my mind. And it works.

But sometimes, if I am careless or unless I write the most important stuff down, they're gone. :blush:
 

Shaunward

New member
Joined
Jan 24, 2010
Messages
297
I'm notorious for forgetting names, numbers, most details in record time. I often need to write things down. I can't remember a 3 digit number for more than 5 minutes.
 

Jaguar

Active member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
20,647
To me, not remembering a person's name and/or other details they've shared with me personally means that there isn't enough respect from my part. And I expect that from the other person as well. So, being absent minded is not really an excuse because you haven't made any significant efforts to remember things.

A person's name is superficial.
A conversation is not.

I can remember a conversation I had with someone from 15 years ago, but I can't remember their name to save my life.
When I see that person, they fall over in shock that I remember our entire conversation.
Paying attention to content is infinitely more meaningful to me than remembering their name is Bob.

I could say the same of books.
I remember stories and large amounts of information, but the title of the book can elude me.

Thank God for Google. :D
 

Poki

New member
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
10,436
MBTI Type
STP
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
A person's name is superficial.
A conversation is not.

I can remember a conversation I had with someone from 15 years ago, but I can't remember their name to save my life.
When I see that person, they fall over in shock that I remember our entire conversation.
Paying attention to content is infinitely more meaningful to me than remembering their name is Bob.

I could say the same of books.
I remember stories and large amounts of information, but the title of the book can elude me.

Thank God for Google. :D

:nice:

We must be brothas from anotha motha
 
P

Phantonym

Guest
A person's name is superficial.
A conversation is not.

I can remember a conversation I had with someone from 15 years ago, but I can't remember their name to save my life.
When I see that person, they fall over in shock that I remember our entire conversation.
Paying attention to content is infinitely more meaningful to me than remembering their name is Bob.

:D Of course a conversation and the content is more meaningful than solely remembering the name.

But people are different. I wasn't only talking about the name but other personal "superficial" information as well. Why ask or tell people anything personal and waste time on something you already know you/they will not bother to remember and use the same questions over and over again just a way to fill the gaps in conversation? I've had numerous encounters with people who do that and I consider it disrespectful even when the overall conversation is meaningful.

That's my take on the matter and I do make an effort to remember the "superficial" things as well because for me, connecting a name to a face and the meaning the person has for me through conversations make up the whole picture. Just as a computer file and its meaningful contents are useless if I don't find the file because I can't remember the name. Yes, people and everything connected to them are files in my mind.
 

Lacey

New member
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
392
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I always remember faces (weird, since I'm not really a visual person) but names are harder. If I'm in a situation where I'm meeting a lot of people at once, and I have lots of names to remember...ugh. I do try to make an effort to remember though, since it can make people feel bad if you don't. I know it kind of makes me feel bad sometimes.
 

cascadeco

New member
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
9,083
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
9w1
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I realized that it's mostly because I flat out don't pay any attention when people tell me their names, rather than because I forget.

This, to a degree, but then too someone's name is one of those details I have to make a focused effort to retain. And to make the focused effort, that means I have to be focusing beforehand, and usually when I'm introduced to people it's so spur-of-the-moment that I haven't 'prepared' myself mentally to retain the information. :laugh:

Like, this morning..ha...so funny...I was at my new job and one of the employees there just walked up and introduced himself to me, and I realized the minute he said his name, and I followed up with mine, I'd already forgotten his. It's like I was forgetting it while he was saying it.:doh: He was cute, though. I think that was part of the problem. I was all excited he came up to me. ;) But now next time I see him, I won't be able to greet him with his actual name. oops.
 

Stanton Moore

morose bourgeoisie
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
3,900
MBTI Type
INFP
What I do:

Think of a word that sounds like the person's name and associate it with some feature.

For instance: I meet Mike. I remember his name by seeing his head as a giant microphone.

Alice has pretty brown eyes. I see lace coming out of those eyes. Or lice.

Dorothy: I see the lead character from the Wiz 'o Oz, with Toto humping her leg.:yes:

the wierder or more sexual the image, the more likely it will stick. the hard part is remembering to apply the technique, but it works.
 

Lexicon

Temporal Mechanic
Staff member
Joined
Sep 28, 2008
Messages
12,342
MBTI Type
JINX
Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
For me, there seems to be a correlation between my level of one-on-one interactions with people and being able to remember their names.

An example from my own personal experiences could be when my mom was remarried in '08. Her husband's family is this giant Greek family, so you can imagine how huge the reception had been, how many blood relatives showed up and milled about, and spoke to me in the course of 5 or so hours. It was a blur of humans, mostly.

I still don't know most of their names, I hardly recall their faces. I mean, if I saw them again, I'd recognize them, but I doubt I'd remember their names. It's nothing personal; I think it's just an aspect of my individual learning process. [That said, I rarely mind if someone needs help recalling my name or other details.]

The only people from that function whose name I can recall, are the people who interacted with me, say, a bit more indepth. My stepfather's cousin, her husband, her son.. We discussed more than just, "hello, great party.. nice shoes. Blahblahblah"

I learned new things about those people, so their identity had more meaning to me, perhaps. Committing them to memory was automatic.
 

Annyong

New member
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
68
MBTI Type
ENTP
I can remember faces very well. Names never seem to stick very easily. I'm ashamed that I sat next to someone in my class, talked to that person, and only got the name after the end of the first semester.

Do you think of others in terms of names? I think of people in terms of faces.
 

Synapse

New member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
3,359
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4
Yes to what nebbykoo said. Having visuals associated with the person that I'm trying to remember names with helps, I try to remember them according to their features when I remember to do that that is. Otherwise hahaha good luck, my focus these days is somewhat sus.
 

OrangeAppled

Sugar Hiccup
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
7,626
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
I remember well by face. Not names.


Same here.

I've found if I repeat a person's name back to them after learning it and make myself use it in conversation, I will remember it more easily (that's if I remember to do that). I learned that from sales people - now I know why they say your name so much after you tell them it. :D
 

INTP

Active member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
7,803
MBTI Type
intp
Enneagram
5w4
Instinctual Variant
sx
i dont remember names and meny faces look so much the same that if i dont know someone really well i might not know if its really him or someone else and if im not sure about something i wont act(in this case say hi or something like that). if someone has new jacket and new hair color i dont think i would recognice him/her at all.

i remember people for what they are like instead
 

BlueScreen

Fail 2.0
Joined
Nov 8, 2008
Messages
2,668
MBTI Type
YMCA
I'm useless at it. I don't think I remember them unless it seems really relevant or they made a huge impact. Though I still normally forget. Names are not high on my importance list for some reason and play almost no part in my memory of the person.

Same as a few others said, I don't forget a face.
 
Top