WEBVTT

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How to remember names. The phase
of memory connected with the remembrance or recollection

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of names probably is of greater interest
to the majority of persons than are any

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of the associated phases of the subject. On all hands are to be found

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people who are embarrassed by their failure
to recall the name of someone whom they

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feel they know, but whose name
has escaped them. This failure to remember

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the names of persons undoubtedly interferes with
the business and professional success of many persons,

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and on the other hand, the
ability to recall names readily has aided

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many persons in the struggle for success. It would seem that there are a

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greater number of persons deficient in this
phase of memory than in any other.

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As Holbrook has said, the memory
of names is a subject with which most

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persons must have a more than passing
interest. The umber of persons who never

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or rarely forget a name is exceedingly
small. The number of those who have

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a poor memory for them is very
large. The reason for this is partly

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a defect of mental development and partly
a matter of habit. In either case,

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it may be overcome by effort.
I have satisfied myself by experience and

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observation that a memory for names may
be increased not only two, but a

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hundredfold. You will find that the
majority of successful men have been able to

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recall the faces and names of those
with whom they came in contact, and

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it is an interesting subject for speculation
as to just how much of their success

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was due to this faculty. Socrates
is said to have easily remembered the names

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of all of his students, and
his classes numbered thousands in the course of

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a year. Xenophon is said to
have known the name of every one of

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his soldiers, which faculty was shared
by Washington and Napoleon. Also, Trajan

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is said to have known the names
of all of the praetorian guards, numbering

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about twelve thousand. Pericles knew the
face and name of every one of the

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citizens of Athens. Sineus is said
to have known the names of all of

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the citizens of Rome. Themistocles knew
the names of twenty thousand Athenians. Lucius

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Scipio could call by name every citizen
of Rome. John Wesley could recall the

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names of thousands of persons whom he
had met in his travels. Henry Clay

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was specially developed in this phase of
memory, and there was a tradition among

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his followers that he remembered every one
whom he met. Blaine had a similar

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reputation. There have been many theories
advanced and explanations offered to account for the

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fact that the recollection of names is
far more difficult than any other form of

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the activities of the memory. We
shall not take up your time in going

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over these theories, but shall proceed
upon the theory now generally accepted by the

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best authorities, that is that the
difficulty in the recollection of names is caused

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by the fact that names in themselves
are uninteresting, and therefore do not attract

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or hold the attention as do other
objects presented to the mind. There is,

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of course, to be remembered the
fact that sound impressions are apt to

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be more difficult of recollection than site
impressions, but the lack of interesting qualities

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and names is believed to be the
principal obstacle and difficulty. Fuller says of

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this matter, a proper noun or
name, when considered independently of accidental features

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of coincidence with something that is familiar, doesn't mean anything. For this reason,

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a mental picture of it is not
easily formed, which accounts for the

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fact that the primitive tedious way of
rote or repetition is that ordinarily employed to

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impress a proper noun on the memory. While a common noun being represented by

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some object having shape or appearance in
the physical or mental perception, can thus

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be seen or imagined. In other
words, a mental image of it can

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be formed and the name identified afterwards
through associating it with this mental image.

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We think that the case is fully
stated in this quotation. But in spite

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of this difficulty, persons have and
can greatly improve their memory of names.

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Many who were originally very deficient in
this respect have not only improved the faculty

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far beyond its former condition, but
have also developed exceptional ability in this special

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phase of memory, so that they
became noted for their unfailing recollection of the

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names of those with whom they came
in contact. Perhaps the best way to

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impress upon you the various methods that
may be used for this purpose would be

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to relate to you the actual experience
of a gentleman employed in a bank in

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one of the large cities of this
country, who made a close study of

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the subject and developed himself far beyond
the ordinary, starting with a remarkably poor

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memory for names. He is now
known to his associates as the man who

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never forgets a name. This gentleman
first took a number of courses in secret

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methods of developing the memory, but
after thus spending much money, he expressed

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his disgust with the whole idea of
artificial memory training. He then started in

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to study the subject from the point
of view of the new psychology, putting

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into effect all of the tested principles
and improving upon some of their details.

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We have had a number of conversations
with this gentleman and have found that his

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experience confirms many of our own ideas
and theories, and the fact that he

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has demonstrated the correctness of the principles
to such a remarkable degree renders his case

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one worthy of being stated in the
direction of affording a guide and method for

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others who wish to develop their memory
of names. The gentleman, who we

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shall call mister X, decided that
the first thing for him to do was

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to develop his faculty of receiving clear
and distinct sound impressions. In doing this,

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he followed the plan outlined by us
in our chapter on training the ear.

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He persevered and practiced along these lines
until his hearing became very acute.

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He made a study of voices until
he could classify them and analyze their characteristics.

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Then he found that he could hear
names in a manner before impossible to

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him. That is, instead of
merely catching a vague sound of a name,

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he would hear it so clearly and
distinctly that a firm registration would be

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obtained on the records of his memory. For the first time in his life,

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names began to mean something to him. He paid attention to every name

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he heard, just as he did
to every note he handled. He would

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repeat a name to himself after hearing
it, and would thus strengthen the impression.

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If he came across an unusual name, he would write it down several

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times at the first opportunity, thus
obtaining the benefit of a double sense impression,

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adding eye impression or ear impression.
All this, of course, aroused

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his interest in the subject of names
in general, which led him to the

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next step in his progress. Mister
X then began to study names, their

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origin, their peculiarities, their differences, points of resemblances, etc. He

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made a hobby of names and evinced
all the joy of a collector when he

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was able to stick the pins of
attention through the specimen of a new and

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unfamiliar species of name. He began
to collect names just as others collect beetles,

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stamps, coins, etc. And
took quite a pride in his collection

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and in his knowledge of the subject. He read books on names from the

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libraries, giving their origin et c. He had the dickens delight in queer

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names, and would amuse his friends
by relating the funny names he had seen

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on signs and otherwise. He took
a small city directory home with him and

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would run over the pages in the
evening, looking up new names and classifying

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old ones into groups. He found
that some names were derived from animals,

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and put these into a class by
themselves, the lions, wolves, foxes,

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lambs, hares, etc. Others
were put into color group blacks,

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greens, whites, grays, blues, etc. Others belonged to the bird

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family crows, hawks, birds,
drakes, cranes, doves, jays,

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etc. Others belonged to trades,
millers, smiths, hoopers, malsters,

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carpenters, bakers, painters, etc. Others were trees, chestnuts, oakleys,

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walnuts, cherries, pines, etc. Then there were hills and dales,

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fields and mountains, lanes and brooks. Some were strong, others were

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gay, others were savage, others
noble, and so on. It would

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take a whole book to tell you
what the man found out about names.

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He came near becoming a crank on
the subject, but his hobby began to

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manifest excellent results, for his interest
had been awakened to an unusual degree,

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and he was becoming very proficient in
his recollection of names, for they now

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meant something to him. He easily
recalled all the regular customers at his bank,

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quite a number, by the way, for the bank was a large

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one, and many occasional depositors were
delighted to have themselves called by name by

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our friend. Occasionally he would meet
with a name that balked him, in

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which case he would repeat it over
to himself and write it a number of

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times until he had mastered it.
After that it never escaped him. Mister

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X would always repeat a name when
it was spoken, and would at the

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same time look intently at the person
bearing it, thus seeming to fix the

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two together. In his mind at
the same time, when he wanted them,

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they would be found in each other's
company. He also acquired the habit

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of visualizing the name, that is, he would see its letters in his

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mind's eye as a picture. This
he regarded as a most important point,

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and we thoroughly agree with him.
He used the law of association in the

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direction of associating a new man with
a well remembered man of the same name.

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A new mister Schmitzenburger would be associated
with an old customer of the same

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name. When he would see the
new man, he would think of the

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old one, and the name would
flash into his mind. To sum up

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the whole method, however, it
may be said that the gist of the

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thing was in taking an interest in
names in general. In this way,

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an uninteresting subject was made interesting,
and a man always has a good memory

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for the things in which he is
interested. The case of mister X is

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an extreme one, and the results
obtained were beyond the ordinary. But if

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you will take a leaf from his
book, you may obtain the same results

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in the degree that you work for
it. Make a study of names,

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start a collection, and you will
have no trouble in developing a memory for

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them. This is the whole thing, in a nutshell,