Those Elusive Names

[googleit6]

We've all been there. You see someone you know... vaguely. Then they make you start to sweat by calling your name. Then they make a vein twitch by bringing up memories you have no recollection of.
OR, you meet an aquantence, and their name just leaves you. Just like that, and you're left floundering for a good few minutes while trying not to address them directly.

What are your experiences with elusive names? Or are you someone who just says, "Excuse my brain freeze, but I just blanked on your name."
I don't know how well that would work with a close friend, though...

 

[wraithian]

I've found flat out saying, "Hey, you know, I'm shit with names, help me out here," usually works pretty well. It accepts responsibility that not remembering their name is on me, and not that they are simply not worth remembering.

 

[Emilox The Great]

i have only tried it once (probably because of my failing social skills.) and i got his name wrong. Awkward!

 

[Jonesy911]

Fortunatly, I've never been in that situation

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

I totally, absolutely suck at remembering people's names.

However, I am (by necessity) a grandmaster at having lengthy chats with people without ever mentioning their names and still having it be a totally natural conversation.

 

[Red Bomb]

I am known for this.....I just say "sorry, Im really bad with names. What's yours again?" and usually they respond with - "oh it's .... Im bad with names too. Whats your again too?"
And all is well!

 

[LostTimeLady]

Ahhh... I get that quiet a lot. In my line of work I know a lot of people by face but never by name. Sometimes I know their name and face separately and so rarely connect the two!
Often I find myself attempting to avoid saying their names. The worst moments are when someone seems really well aquanted with you and you totally blank about ever even having met them!
That's happened to me a few times when someone I know in one context sees me in a totally different context and I totally blank! Bad I know.

 

[Artina89]

I've found flat out saying, "Hey, you know, I'm shit with names, help me out here," usually works pretty well. It accepts responsibility that not remembering their name is on me, and not that they are simply not worth remembering.

Yeah I do the same thing. I am actually quite terrible with names.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

I give people numbers.

It scares them.

In all seriousness, just say "hey, hows it going?" and from then on say thing like "dude" or whatever, and you should be good.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

I am awful at remembering names, and almost as bad with faces XD
There are people who have been in the same class as me for two years and i still can't remember their names.
Because of this, i always try and make it so the issue of names never comes up in a conversation.

 

[Snarky Username]

Whenever anyone says "Hey Cory!" I'm usually found just saying "Hey... you!"

One time I told a girl "So what's your name again?" and ever since then she's been calling my Tori, which can get annoying at times.

 

[child of lileth]

I'm good at remembering people's names. The hard part for me is being sure if the face matches up if I haven't seen them in a long time.

 

[matrix guardian]

I remember every name ever. Just kidding, I'm the same way. Sometimes I try to stall and avoid saying anything that requires knowing their name, while in the meantime (if its a social situation) I keep hoping for someone else to come by and address them by their name, or refer to them by name, etc. I don't know which is more embarrassing, forgetting someone's name from the past that you should know, or forgetting the name of someone you just met, that just told you their name 3 seconds ago. But both have happened to me.

 

[wkrepelin]

This happens to me constantly. I'm very well known at school so people will say hi to me in the quad or what have you and I have no clue what their names are. My favorite is after a semester someone will invariably ask me what I got in that class and I'll ask "what class was that." They always say "The class we took together" like I'm some sort of fool and I just tell them I don't know what class I had with them but I surely got an A.

 

[Distorted Stu]

I suck at names, i have to do memory links to remeber people. For example at work there is a guy called Mr Cross and looks grumpy as fuck, so i just make that connection.

 

[NLS]

My problem is the opposite, I know a bunch of names from people I've never met.

 

[Omikron009]

I forget names all the time. The most embarrassing story was when I went to subway once, the person making my sandwich said hi and addressed me by name. I had no idea who it was, but I said hello back. She then said "You don't know who I am, do you?" I responded "Honestly, I don't." She said "I'm in your socials class. I sit next to you actually." We then had to stand in awkward silence as she made my sandwich, I paid, and left.

 

[Marter]

I just tell them I've forgotten their name and that I would appreciate if they told it to me again.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

"I'm very sorry, I've forgotten your name. I'm really awful with names, so it's no surprise, I don't mean any offence. However, since this means you have no official name to me, I shall name you George. Hello George."

This is my general approach, it takes the blame and is light hearted so they shouldn't get offended, and rarely do.