I’ll be starting a new job in a few weeks, and meeting a lot of new people. I’m not good at remembering names. Does anyone have any tried-and-true methods for getting better at this task?
I suck at it myself, but I read some good advice about it. Anchor the name to someone you know. Sam? Looks like a Sam I used to know. Jessica, and she’s blonde? Same name as my blonde niece. (All my nieces are blonde though, so I’ve made some embarassing mistakes.) Mark? He’s got a funny mole, like a mark on his face.
I have a wall of post it notes in my office. I write down the name with a salient fact or two and maybe a description. It really helps.
Say their name three times when you meet them. Nice to meet you, Yankee… So, Yankee, what do you do here?.. See you later, Yankee.
Sounds cliche, but it works.
Great, thanks. Keep them coming!
Kuboydal, out of curiosity, has anyone ever seen their own name on a post-it on your wall? Commented on it?
I suppose it depends on whether you’re more of an auditory or a visual learner. If you tend to remember what you hear, try Santo Rugger’s tip. If you tend to remember what you see/read, try Kuboydal’s suggestion, or get yourself a list of everybody’s name to help you remember.
Or, you could just call everybody “Dude”!
Or “Buddy,” or “Sweetheart,” or "Honey, or “Friend,” or, as we did in the Navy, “Shipmate.”
I’m also a fan of “I’m learning a lot of people’s names right now, so please don’t be insulted if I ask your name again later on.”
Give them a celebrity’s name.
Sean becomes Sean Connery
Spencer becomes Spencer Tracy
Ashley becomes Ashley Olson
or a book or movie name,
Sarah becomes Sarah Plain and Tall
Shane wears cowboy boots in your mind
or a rhyming name,
Matt becomes Fat Matt (don’t use this one if he’s really fat - in fact you don’t need to tell anyone their mnemonic name.)
A teacher did this in a room full of ~30 students and we remembered each other pretty much instantly and never forgot.
It definitely helps me to associate them with things that are more complete - I work with a Debby and a Debbie, and Debbie is more perky and outgoing, you know, like “ie” people are.
Zsofia, you made me spit out my wine!
I watched No Country for Old Men last weekend and have been calling everyone Friendo since. 
You must be an “ie” person. Do you dot the “i” with a heart, or a smiley face?
<blushing>
I disagree. IMHO, making an excuse before you even try to learn themselves is, well, giving yourself a prefabbed excuse for forgetting. Better to think positive. 
That is the honest truth. But you do have to give yourself permission to ask people’s names in the first few weeks, because I’ve been at my job for three years and there are people I see every day in the ladies’ room and I have no idea what their names are. And now it’s way, way too late to ask and I’d just crawl under the floor if there were some situation where it would come out that I don’t know these names at all.
There’s a whole psychology as to why this works but I’m too lazy to post all the details. Basicaly, in order for your memory to work it needs a “plot line” a start, a climax and an end.
When someone tells you their name; spell it in your head. Even if it’s a simple name like “Bob” and if it’s a name you’re not sure how to spell don’t be affraid to ask. Most people will be slightly complimented that you even care.
You could visualize their name in neon lights above their heads…?
At many companies these days, the employees are required to wear badges with photos, which makes life much easier.
StG
I’m awful at learning kids’ names when teaching them - I can know the half-dozen names of a small group, but still take weeks to reliably match them to faces, and seeing them for only twenty minutes each week gives plenty of time to forget all over again. Your Debbies are like an extreme case I had this year: Abbie, Alannah, Alice, Anna, Emma, Ella, Ellie. Not a chance.
Even when watching films, names don’t stick. I can get to the end credits, have followed it in detail, but ask me to name the principle characters… 