HOW TO REMEMBER NAMES

In preparing for occupations such as medicine or law, the student is bombarded with a plethora of new words.   It has been stated that in the first two years of medical school students increase their vocabulary by 20,000 or more words.  Many of these words have Greek or Latin prefixes or suffixes. However, when it comes to medications and enzymes, some of the terms cannot be worked out logically and therefore the student is forced to resort to sequential repetition to place the words in  long-term memory.  This is slow and laborious.

Help is available!

The tool for committing words to memory is the same as that used for remembering the names of people, so let's do that first.

If you can remember someone’s name they will be impressed because it makes them feel good that you care about them.

How many times have you been introduced to someone and a few minutes later were not able to recall the name? The answer is probably many, many times. The problem is not that you almost immediately forgot the name - the truth is that you never put the name into your memory bank. You never knew it!

We will now show you how to immediately encode any name.

To remember a person’s name 3 actions have to be performed:

1. 1. Look at the person and identify something that stands out to you. 
2. 2. Convert the name into the mental image of an object.
3. 3. Mentally link these together.

For some examples of how to do this I have chosen several Texas State Senators.

When I look at this picture the outstanding feature is a long pointed nose. The name Bob brings the image of someone bobbing for apples and the last name sounds like "duel". The mental video that is generated in my mind is a long sword growing from his nose which he is bobbing for apples.

Before going further, let me address the types of images one should develop. They MUST be:

You must see these images vividly in your minds eye.

Here is another example:

To me the outstanding feature of this senator is his prominent chin.

The first name Glenn reminds me of a glen (a small secluded valley), and the last name sounds almost like a hanger. The mental image that comes to mind is this person flying on his chin into an airplane hanger in a tiny valley hemmed in by large hills.

You must concentrate on the person to find a distinguishing feature and then mentally marry this feature to images that the name suggests. These images are called "name images" or "sound alikes" or "picturable equivalents".

Here are some reasons why this system works: First, the system forces you to look at the person in order to find a distinguishing feature. Second, you will be saying the name to yourself as you are thinking of an image. Third, you are again forced to think about the name as you mentally link the distinguishing feature to the name. When you meet a real person you MUST say his or her name out loud at least once. This is known as acoustical encoding.

The more bizarre the images you create the better they will stick in your memory.

Any image that you come up with is far better than the suggested images because, YOU GENERATED IT!

The principle outlined in this page is to create an image where the word used to describe that image approximately sounds like the name you wish to remember.

To help you master this technique, here are more examples:

Texas Senator John Carona

Whenever I meet anyone with the name of John I always mentally picture that person being associated with a toilet. The high forehead in this senator is the perfect place for a giant CROWN. Therefore the image is seeing Senator Carona sitting on a toilet with his large, shiny, ornate, golden crown.

Another example:

Texas Senator Mike Jackson

What stands out in Senator Jackson is his bushy moustache. His first name makes one think of a microphone and his last name starts with "jack" which is an object that creates an instant image. As his name ends in "son" let me suggest something that you can use every time you come across an name that ends in "son". Whatever preceds the "son", create a second image of it, but much smaller. In other words you create a son of the first part of the name. So what I suggest for combining the moustache, microphone and jack is this: see microphones bursting out of the moustache, and as he is yelling into them the sounds are being lifted up by giant jacks. Next to each of the millions of jacks is a miniature jack. Now you try and make up your own image.

Now that you have been exposed to some examples, let’s go over this process in more detail.

Identify something about the person that stands out to you. 
Look at the person for something that stands out.  It might be a prominent chin, a dimple, wide set eyes, a freckle, turned up nose or bushy eyebrows.  ANYTHING THAT STANDS OUT TO YOU.  It is a good idea not to choose the hairstyle, spectacles or the ties that they are wearing since they may be different the next time you meet the person.

Make sure that you hear the name correctly.
If necessary, ask that the name be repeated.  If it is an unusual name try and spell it.  Do not worry if you misspell it – the person will be impressed that you are trying!  Or, if it is a name that can be spelt in different ways you can ask how it is spelt.  For example you may ask if it is Gonzales or Gonzalez, Brown or Browne, or White or Whyte.

Convert the name into a mental image.
This is easier than you think.   Many names have meaning and lend themselves to an immediate image.  Here are a few of the thousands of examples.

Animals.  Bear, Bird, Katz, Fish, Bull, Trout, Eagle, Lamb, Fox, Gill, Finch, Starling, Steed, Lyon, Bates (for fishing! – use your imagination), Hyde.

Occupations.  Carpenter, Taylor, Sawyer, Cooper (a maker of barrels), Smith, Farmer, Glazer, Goldman, Silver, Pearlman, Post, Billings, Sellers, Mason, Fry, Cook, Painter, Driver, Rider, Singer Waggoner, Barber, Shepherd, Keeper, Boxer, Law, Graves, Piper, Forman, Trapper, Miller, Baker, Butcher, Player, Tyler, Bowman.

Objects.  Bell, Bridges, Tower, Hart, Glass, Tall, Short, Strong, Little, Young(er), Ward, Cotton, Duke, King, Sharp, Blunt, Sage, Storm, Mack (truck), Boulder, Rock, Stone, Jack, Spooner, Cobb, Fountain, Snow, Raines, Rose(man), Bender, Rhodes, Graves, Martini, Sharp, Coffey, Gates, Fawcett, Snow, Parks, Bill (dollar bill), Paige, Lane, Paris (the Eiffel tower), Bacon.

Colors.  Brown, Black, White, Green, Blue, Scarlet, Violet, Amber, Rose

Jewels.  Ruby, Diamond, Jade, Pearl, Silver, Gold

Others.  Eastman, West, North, Wright, Strait, Sommers, Winter

These and many other names can easily be converted into an image that can be linked to a physical feature.

Then how do you create an image from the name of someone whose name does not lend itself to an immediate image.  This is also easier than you think. 

WITH VERY LITTLE EFFORT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING THAT SOUNDS SIMILAR TO THE PERSON’S NAME.

Examples of some Female names, Male names and Last names

Collectively we can call these “name images” or “sound alikes” or “picturable equivalents”.

Look at these suggestions, but do not try and memorize them.  They are listed to give you an idea of how you can use your imagination to create images.  It often helps to break the name into syllables and use the syllables to create the images.

Here are a few shortcuts to help make images: