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Speaker 1: How to remember names. The phase of memory connected with

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the remembrance or recollection of names probably is of greater

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interest to the majority of persons than are any of

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the associated phases of the subject. On all hands are

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to be found people who are embarrassed by their failure

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to recall the name of someone whom they feel they know,

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but whose name has escaped them. This failure to remember

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the names of persons undoubtedly interferes with the business and

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professional success of many persons, and on the other hand,

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the ability to recall names readily has aided many persons

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in the struggle for success. It would seem that there

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are a greater number of persons deficient in this phase

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of memory than in any other. As Holbrook has said,

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the memory of names is a subject with which most

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persons must have a more than passing interestnumber of persons

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who never or rarely forget a name is exceedingly small.

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The number of those who have a poor memory for

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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.

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In either case, it may be overcome by effort. I

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have satisfied myself by experience and observation that a memory

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for names may be increased not only two, but a hundredfold.

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You will find that the majority of successful men have

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been able to recall the faces and names of those

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with whom they came in contact, and it is an

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interesting subject for speculation as to just how much of

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their success was due to this faculty. Socrates is said

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to have easily remembered the names of all of his students,

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and his classes numbered thousands in the course of a year.

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Xenophon is said to have known the name of every

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one of his soldiers, which faculty was shared by Washington

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and Napoleon. Also, Trajan is said to have known the

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names of all of the Pretorian guards, numbering about twelve thousand.

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Pericles knew the face and name of every one of

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the citizens of Athens. Sinius is said to have known

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the names of all of the citizens of Rome. Femistocles

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knew the names of twenty thousand Athenians. Lucius Scipio could

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call by name every citizen of Rome. John Wesley could

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recall the names of thousands of persons whom he had

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met in his travels. Henry clay was specially developed in

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this phase of memory, and there was a tradition among

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his followers that he remembered every one whom he met.

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Blaine had a similar reputation. There have been many theories

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advanced and explanations offered to account for the fact that

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the recollection of names is far more difficult than any

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other form of the activities of the memory. We shall

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not take up your time in going over these theories,

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but shall proceed upon the theory now generally accepted by

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the best authorities, that is that the difficulty in the

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recollection of names is caused by the fact that names

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in themselves are uninteresting, and therefore do not attract or

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hold the attention as do other objects presented to the mind.

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There is, of course, to be remembered the fact that

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sound impressions are apt to be more difficult of recollection

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than cite impressions, But the lack of interesting qualities and

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names is believed to be the principal obstacle and difficulty.

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Fuller says of this matter, a proper noun or name,

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when considered independently of accidental features of coincidence with something

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that is familiar, doesn't mean anything. For this reason, a

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mental picture of it is not easily formed, which accounts

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for the fact that the primitive tedious way of rote

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or repetition is that ordinarily employed to impress a proper

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noun on the memory. While a common noun being represented

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by some object having shape or appearance in the physical

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or mental perception, can thus be seen or imagined, in

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other words, a mental image of it can be formed

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and the name identified afterwards through associating it with this

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mental image. We think that the case is fully stated

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in this quotation. But in spite of this difficulty, persons

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have and can greatly improve their memory of names. Many

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who were originally very deficient in this respect have not

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only improved the faculty far beyond its former condition, but

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have also developed exceptional ability in this special phase of memory,

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so that they became noted for their unfailing recollection of

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the names of those with whom they came in contact.

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Perhaps the best way to impress upon you the various

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methods that may be used for this purpose would be

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to relate to you the actual experience of a gentleman

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employed in a bank in one of the large cities

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of this country, who made a close study of the

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subject and developed himself far beyond the ordinary, starting with

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a remarkably poor memory for names. He is now known

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to his associates as the man who never forgets a name.

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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,

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he expressed his disgust with the whole idea of artificial

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memory training. He then started in to study the subject

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from the point of view of the new psychology, putting

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into effect all of the tested principles and improving upon

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some of their details. We have had a number of

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conversations with this gentleman and have found that his experience

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confirms many of our own ideas and theories, and the

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fact that he has demonstrated the correctness of the principles

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to such a remarkable degree renders his case one worthy

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of being stated in the direction of affording a guide

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and method for others who wish to develop their memory

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of names. The gentleman, who we shall call mister X,

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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.

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In doing this, he followed the plan outlined by us

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in our chapter on tree training the ear. He persevered

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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

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them and analyze their characteristics. Then he found that he

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could hear names in a manner before impossible to him.

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That is, instead of merely catching a vague sound of

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a name, he would hear it so clearly and distinctly

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that a firm registration would be obtained on the records

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of his memory. For the first time in his life,

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names began to mean something to him. He paid attention

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to every name he heard, just as he did to

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every note he handled. He would repeat a name to

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himself after hearing it, and would thus strengthen the impression.

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If he came across an unusual name, he would write

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it down several times at the first opportunity, thus obtaining

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the benefit of a double sense impression, adding eye impression

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or ear impression. All this, of course, aroused his interest

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in the subject of names in general, which led him

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to the next step in his progress. Mister X then

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began to study names, their origin, their peculiarities, their differences,

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points of resemblances, et cetera. He made a hobby of

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names and evinced all the joy of a collector when

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he was able to stick the pins of attention through

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the specimen of a new and unfamiliar speecies of name.

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He began to collect names just as others collect beetles, stamps, coins,

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et cetera, and took quite a pride in his collection

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and in his knowledge of the subject. He read books

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on names from the libraries, giving their origin, et cetera.

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He had the dickens delight in queer names, and would

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amuse his friends by relating the funny names he had

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seen on signs and otherwise. He took a small city

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directory home with him and would run over the pages

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in the evening, looking up new names and classifying old

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ones into groups. He found that some names were derived

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from animals, and put these into a class by themselves

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the lions, wolfs, foxes, lambs, hares, et cetera. Others were

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put into color group blacks, greens, whites, grays, blues, et cetera.

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Others belonged to the bird family crows, hawks, birds, drakes, cranes, doves, jays,

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et cetera. Others belonged to trades, miller's, smith's, coopers, malsters, carpenters, bakers, painters,

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et cetera. Others were trees, chestnuts, oakleys, walnuts, cherries, pines,

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et cetera. Then there were hills and dales, fields and mountains,

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lanes and brooks. Some were strong, others were gay, Others

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

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a whole book to tell you what the man found

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out about names. He came near becoming a crank on

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the subject, but his hobby began to manifest excellent results.

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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,

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for they now meant something to him. He easily recalled

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all the regular customers at his bank, quite a number,

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by the way, for the bank was a large one,

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and many occasional depositors were delighted to have themselves called

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by name by our friend. Occasionally he would meet with

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a name that balked him, in which case he would

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repeat it over to himself and write it a number

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of times until he had mastered it. After that it

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never escaped him. Mister X would always repeat a name

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when it was spoken, and would at the same time

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look intently at the person bearing it, thus seeming to

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fix the two together in his mind. At the same time,

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when he wanted them, they would be found in each

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other's company. He also acquired the habit of visualizing the name,

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that is, he would see its letters in his mind's

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eye as a picture. This he regarded as a most

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important point, and we thoroughly agree with him. He used

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the law of association in the direction of associating a

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

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A new mister Schmitzenberger would be associated with an old

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customer of the same name. When he would see the

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new man, he would think of the old one, and

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the name would flash into his mind. To sum up

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

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gist of the thing was in taking an interest in

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names in general. In this way, an uninteresting subject was

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made interesting, and a man always has a good memory

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for the things in which he is interested. The case

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of mister X is an extreme one, and the results

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obtained were beyond the ordinary. But if you will take

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a leaf from his book, you may obtain the same

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results in the degree that you work for it. Make

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a study of names, start a collection, and you will

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have no trouble in developing a memory for them. This

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is the whole thing, in a nutshell,