There is a guy that I first met about 12 years ago when he was about 18 yrs old. He is engaged to a friend’s daughter and I will probably be invited to the wedding. I see him about 2 or 3 times a month in a social environment (bowling alley, golf course etc.)
For some reason, 9 times out of 10, I call him Brandon. One problem: his name is Jeremy. I did it this evening.
I don’t do it on purpose and he doesn’t get annoyed when I call him Brandon, but for some reason I have connected his face with the wrong name.
AFAIK, he is the only person that I call by the wrong name. There are no other Jeremy’s or Brandon’s that I see on a regular basis, so he doesn’t remind me of anyone else.
I normally have a very good memory, and usually connect faces with names very well. However, I have a brain fart when I see Jeremy.
Mods, I was hoping for a factual answer, but please feel free if you thing it is too mundane and mindless for GQ.
I don’t know if it’s a syndrome, but sometimes people do not look to me like their names.
Years ago, I worked at a place where two new people came on about the same time. One of them was Cheryl and one of them was Gretchen. To me, Gretchen looked like a Cheryl, and Cheryl looked like a Gretchen, and I screwed it up a few times, and they both accepted that I got confused because they both started about the same time. Well, that might have been it, but I don’t think so.
Usually, when I meet someone, I don’t say to myself, “Huh, she doesn’t look like a Cheryl.” But every once in awhile I have a strong feeling about the way they look fitting their name. I don’t know why. I’m wondering if this is some kind of contextual synesthesia.
I used to have a mental block on people named Kim and Mel. I would always call them by the wrong name, although I’ve since been able to break that habit.
Maybe by the same token, I use to have a ridiculous time calling David Bowie and Billy Idol by their proper names (though obviously this isn’t something that happened in person!).
One other thing that I forgot to mention in the OP. Occasionally, I have to refer to Jeremy in the third person, like “Jeremy is on the ACME bowling team.”
It is only when I address him directly do i get his name wrong.
Hilarity, I don’t think it is a name association problem. the only Brandon I know looks nothing like Jeremy and the only other Jeremy I know is a lot like Jeremy #1.
Heh, I used to get Bill Clinton and George Clinton mixed up. Hilarity ensued.
You know, when I was a kid, there was this intersection in my hometown that I used to think was four different places, depending on our approach. When I found out they were all one corner, it blew my mind.
I think that the box that Brandon-when-you-meet-him is filed in, is different from the box where Jeremy-in-the-third-person is filed. Perhaps because of the two contexts in which you know him, separated by time and social context. He probably looked like a Jeremy as a youngster when you met him, but grew into a Brandon. It happens.
I have the exact same thing, and I think it is a side effect from having a good memory.
Some peoples memories are made slowly, and with repeats. They will have a lot of time to get it right and to correct themselves. Think of it as a memory written in soft lines with charcoal on paper.
Wit me however, There are many things I remember after just one time. As if the memory is engraved with just one line, in stone. The trouble is, of the memory is engraved wrongly the first time, it is *also *written in stone that way. Quite possibly, when you were introduced to this guy, some association with Brandon occurred to you that somehow captured your imagination more then the name Jeremy: and hey presto, the name Brandon is engraved in your mental stone slate, not Jeremy.
I have noticed the same thing with myself when singing in a choir. It was a good thing I am a soprano, and the sopranos’ get taught their voice first, because there is no way I could learn the alto’s voice when the soprano’s vocie has already wedged itself in my memory.
Also, when I learned botany, I had to ask my teacher to just say the name of the plant when I wanted to know it, when I was mentally ready to engrave it, and without delay. If he did otherwise, and teased me a little, or told another anecdote, all I have in the place of that plant’s name is the anecdote or the teasing remark.
That’s funny. It reminds me of the local spooky house with crazy lady when I was a kid. The house was on a hill, and from the back it looked very spooky, and if you were dared to climb the hill, that was scary, too–it was steep, there were lots of brambles and things to grab at your clothes, plus, probably, bats. And of course if you actually got there and the crazy lady got her hands on you she’d probably cut off your head and cook you. Nobody ever got that far; the crazy lady would come out banging pots, and whichever kid had dared to do that would run. And be thought ballsy for having got that far.
From the other side, the street it was on, it just looked like an ordinary house. In fact it was an ordinary house. The lady who lived there was not really that crazy, only kind of old, and was a friend of my grandmother’s.
I was at least in junior high before I realized it was just the one lady, and just the one house.
My name (reasonably common) begins with a certain letter. All through my life, people have mistakenly called me a different name beginning with that letter (one I detest), a name that has nothing in common except for that letter. Not similar names at all. Apparently, I was given the wrong name at birth.
If people call me by the wrong name, it seems to always be “Laura”. This has happened to me by different people, at different times, in different cities (and even provinces!) Apparently to some people I look like a Laura, and I actually occasionally look up when that name is called, simply because it has happened often enough that I check to be sure they really are looking for a Laura, and not me!
My name ends with an "a’ sound, too, but differs in every other letter and number of syllables!
I cannot remember Matt/Mike/Mark, but that actually is because I find the names similar and I usually don’t make an effort to remember which is which. I know so many of each, it’s easier to go by last name anyways!
Hmmm. I used to confuse the names “Brian Keith” and “Keith Richards”. I think because the “Rolling Stones” storage area of my brain somehow managed to combine “Brian Jones” and “Keith Richards” into “Brian Keith”, creating a short circuit between there and the “Hardcastle and McCormick” area.
Most of the time when I get the wrong name planted in my head it is because there are two names that go together, so when I hear one, I automatically hear the other name. For example, if I meet someone named Jackie, I “hear” Joey because Jackie and Joey were a pair of always-together sisters I knew I school. Same with Kim and Karen.
I know several people whose name in my memory is like “Bob - no that’s not right.” I’ve slowly moved them from just “Bob” to “Bob - no that’s not right”. But they’re stuck at that point & it’s hell to get the memory updated to be just “Sam” like it should be.
I think Maastricht is on to something, at least for some of us. I have a fierce memory for minutiae and detail.
My given name is Karlene. This is a huge problem for people. All ages. All sizes. All genders. All zodiac signs, all breakfast preferences.
NOBODY can spell this correctly.
[ul]
[li]Karleen[/li][li]Carleen[/li][li]Carlene[/li][li]Carlin[/li][li]Karlin[/li][/ul]“Are you sure it’s not ‘Carlene’?”
Yes. I am very frakking sure.
NOBODY pronounces it right on the first try. I am often confused for
[ul]
[li]“Colleen?”[/li][li]“Karlena?”[/li][li]“Cullen?” (Damn you again, Twilight.)[/li][li]“Kaitlin?”[/li][li]“Cathleen?”[/li][/ul]
And every time, I sigh and say softly “My grandmothers’ names are Arlene and Katherine. My parents wanted to name me after both of them, so I’m called Karlene.” But internally, I’m lighting them on fire with my mind.
My nickname is much easier for people to remember (Weenie), but not appropriate for most business settings.