Speaker 1: How to remember names. The phase of memory connected with
the remembrance or recollection of names probably is of greater
interest to the majority of persons than are any of
the associated phases of the subject. On all hands are
to be found people who are embarrassed by their failure
to recall the name of someone whom they feel they know,
but whose name has escaped them. This failure to remember
the names of persons undoubtedly interferes with the business and
professional success of many persons, and on the other hand,
the ability to recall names readily has aided many persons
in the struggle for success. It would seem that there
are a greater number of persons deficient in this phase
of memory than in any other. As Holbrook has said,
the memory of names is a subject with which most
persons must have a more than passing interestnumber of persons
who never or rarely forget a name is exceedingly small.
The number of those who have a poor memory for
them is very large. The reason for this is partly
a defect of mental development and partly a matter of habit.
In either case, it may be overcome by effort. I
have satisfied myself by experience and observation that a memory
for names may be increased not only two, but a hundredfold.
You will find that the majority of successful men have
been able to recall the faces and names of those
with whom they came in contact, and it is an
interesting subject for speculation as to just how much of
their success was due to this faculty. Socrates is said
to have easily remembered the names of all of his students,
and his classes numbered thousands in the course of a year.
Xenophon is said to have known the name of every
one of his soldiers, which faculty was shared by Washington
and Napoleon. Also, Trajan is said to have known the
names of all of the Pretorian guards, numbering about twelve thousand.
Pericles knew the face and name of every one of
the citizens of Athens. Sinius is said to have known
the names of all of the citizens of Rome. Femistocles
knew the names of twenty thousand Athenians. Lucius Scipio could
call by name every citizen of Rome. John Wesley could
recall the names of thousands of persons whom he had
met in his travels. Henry clay was specially developed in
this phase of memory, and there was a tradition among
his followers that he remembered every one whom he met.
Blaine had a similar reputation. There have been many theories
advanced and explanations offered to account for the fact that
the recollection of names is far more difficult than any
other form of the activities of the memory. We shall
not take up your time in going over these theories,
but shall proceed upon the theory now generally accepted by
the best authorities, that is that the difficulty in the
recollection of names is caused by the fact that names
in themselves are uninteresting, and therefore do not attract or
hold the attention as do other objects presented to the mind.
There is, of course, to be remembered the fact that
sound impressions are apt to be more difficult of recollection
than cite impressions, But the lack of interesting qualities and
names is believed to be the principal obstacle and difficulty.
Fuller says of this matter, a proper noun or name,
when considered independently of accidental features of coincidence with something
that is familiar, doesn't mean anything. For this reason, a
mental picture of it is not easily formed, which accounts
for the fact that the primitive tedious way of rote
or repetition is that ordinarily employed to impress a proper
noun on the memory. While a common noun being represented
by some object having shape or appearance in the physical
or mental perception, can thus be seen or imagined, in
other words, a mental image of it can be formed
and the name identified afterwards through associating it with this
mental image. We think that the case is fully stated
in this quotation. But in spite of this difficulty, persons
have and can greatly improve their memory of names. Many
who were originally very deficient in this respect have not
only improved the faculty far beyond its former condition, but
have also developed exceptional ability in this special phase of memory,
so that they became noted for their unfailing recollection of
the names of those with whom they came in contact.
Perhaps the best way to impress upon you the various
methods that may be used for this purpose would be
to relate to you the actual experience of a gentleman
employed in a bank in one of the large cities
of this country, who made a close study of the
subject and developed himself far beyond the ordinary, starting with
a remarkably poor memory for names. He is now known
to his associates as the man who never forgets a name.
This gentleman first took a number of courses in secret
methods of developing the memory, but after thus spending much money,
he expressed his disgust with the whole idea of artificial
memory training. He then started in to study the subject
from the point of view of the new psychology, putting
into effect all of the tested principles and improving upon
some of their details. We have had a number of
conversations with this gentleman and have found that his experience
confirms many of our own ideas and theories, and the
fact that he has demonstrated the correctness of the principles
to such a remarkable degree renders his case one worthy
of being stated in the direction of affording a guide
and method for others who wish to develop their memory
of names. The gentleman, who we shall call mister X,
decided that the first thing for him to do was
to develop his faculty of receiving clear and distinct sound impressions.
In doing this, he followed the plan outlined by us
in our chapter on tree training the ear. He persevered
and practiced along these lines until his hearing became very acute.
He made a study of voices until he could classify
them and analyze their characteristics. Then he found that he
could hear names in a manner before impossible to him.
That is, instead of merely catching a vague sound of
a name, he would hear it so clearly and distinctly
that a firm registration would be obtained on the records
of his memory. For the first time in his life,
names began to mean something to him. He paid attention
to every name he heard, just as he did to
every note he handled. He would repeat a name to
himself after hearing it, and would thus strengthen the impression.
If he came across an unusual name, he would write
it down several times at the first opportunity, thus obtaining
the benefit of a double sense impression, adding eye impression
or ear impression. All this, of course, aroused his interest
in the subject of names in general, which led him
to the next step in his progress. Mister X then
began to study names, their origin, their peculiarities, their differences,
points of resemblances, et cetera. He made a hobby of
names and evinced all the joy of a collector when
he was able to stick the pins of attention through
the specimen of a new and unfamiliar speecies of name.
He began to collect names just as others collect beetles, stamps, coins,
et cetera, and took quite a pride in his collection
and in his knowledge of the subject. He read books
on names from the libraries, giving their origin, et cetera.
He had the dickens delight in queer names, and would
amuse his friends by relating the funny names he had
seen on signs and otherwise. He took a small city
directory home with him and would run over the pages
in the evening, looking up new names and classifying old
ones into groups. He found that some names were derived
from animals, and put these into a class by themselves
the lions, wolfs, foxes, lambs, hares, et cetera. Others were
put into color group blacks, greens, whites, grays, blues, et cetera.
Others belonged to the bird family crows, hawks, birds, drakes, cranes, doves, jays,
et cetera. Others belonged to trades, miller's, smith's, coopers, malsters, carpenters, bakers, painters,
et cetera. Others were trees, chestnuts, oakleys, walnuts, cherries, pines,
et cetera. Then there were hills and dales, fields and mountains,
lanes and brooks. Some were strong, others were gay, Others
were savage, others noble, and so on. It would take
a whole book to tell you what the man found
out about names. He came near becoming a crank on
the subject, but his hobby began to manifest excellent results.
For his interest had been awakened to an unusual degree,
and he was becoming very proficient in his recollection of names,
for they now meant something to him. He easily recalled
all the regular customers at his bank, quite a number,
by the way, for the bank was a large one,
and many occasional depositors were delighted to have themselves called
by name by our friend. Occasionally he would meet with
a name that balked him, in which case he would
repeat it over to himself and write it a number
of times until he had mastered it. After that it
never escaped him. Mister X would always repeat a name
when it was spoken, and would at the same time
look intently at the person bearing it, thus seeming to
fix the two together in his mind. At the same time,
when he wanted them, they would be found in each
other's company. He also acquired the habit of visualizing the name,
that is, he would see its letters in his mind's
eye as a picture. This he regarded as a most
important point, and we thoroughly agree with him. He used
the law of association in the direction of associating a
new man with a well remembered man of the same name.
A new mister Schmitzenberger would be associated with an old
customer of the same name. When he would see the
new man, he would think of the old one, and
the name would flash into his mind. To sum up
the whole method, however, it may be said that the
gist of the thing was in taking an interest in
names in general. In this way, an uninteresting subject was
made interesting, and a man always has a good memory
for the things in which he is interested. The case
of mister X is an extreme one, and the results
obtained were beyond the ordinary. But if you will take
a leaf from his book, you may obtain the same
results in the degree that you work for it. Make
a study of names, start a collection, and you will
have no trouble in developing a memory for them. This
is the whole thing, in a nutshell,