I am so horrible with names - I recognize the faces, and generally can place them as to the last time I saw them (work, gym, soccer game, whatever).
I’ve tried some tricks such as “he’s Dan, the Man who manages our 401(K)” – no luck. If I had my druthers, we would all wear name tags.
I force myself to use the name in the conversation right after meeting them, and again later, and end, “Bye Melinda!”. No guarantee, but it makes a difference.
(bad with both)
I’m probably pretty good with names if I have something to associate them with.
It doesn’t do any good to introduce me to someone and tell me their name, though, because all I’ll get is name + visual appearance, and visual appearance is out the window 35 seconds after I quit looking at them. I’d be doing unusually well to recall whether or not they had hair.