I think the best approach to names and faces is to use pre-established audionyms/object image for names and rely on the very good innate ability to recognize familiar faces. The conversion of that person’s names and association to the image is key. E.g., I see a picture of Sally Harris (salad, hairy) and I imagine her looking disgusted and spitting out hairy salad.
Some of the best information on remembering names is the old memory stuff marketed by business publishers. Understandably, they devoted a lot of attention to this need. In my usual perusing of second-hand book stores, Salvation Army stores, etc., I have come across a lot of this stuff. I have a small booklet from one of these audiocassette courses that has a list of images for names (first and surnames). Some surname examples: Rameriz= ram ear, Johnson= john (toilet) in sun, Gonzales= guns in a salad, Feldman= felt man. Some first name examples: Claudia= cloud, Ellen= island, Monica= harmonica, Jose= hose, James= chains, Jeffrey= chef in tree.
I will work on a list of audionym/images for names (since it is important in my job and I don’t fell guilty spending time working on it) and will make it available here (I should have it by summer). I will put together a list of female and male first names and surnames that I collect from various memory works. I am hoping to get hold of Dean Vaughn’s 1980 book “Remembering Names”. In this work Vaughn lists thousands of audionyms/images for names.
In addition, I will try to make audionyms for the rest of top 1000 names (first and surnames) listed on the U.S. Social Security and Census Bureau website. My guess is that this will cover 98%+ of names encountered. Since the U.S. Is diverse, these names will cover all most popular names from major ethnic groups and countries of origin.
I’ve recently started a side business that has exceeded beyond my wildest expectations. The only thing holding me back is my lifelong inability to recall names and faces!
I wondering what system(s) the experts here use, and especially if anyone is using this when dealing with relatively large numbers (approx 50-75) of people. If it helps, I typically only need to recall this information for a fairly short period (less than a week).
I’ve looked into Jerry Lucas Names and Faces Made Easy program, but I’m looking for “real world” testimonials from those of you who have “been there, done that”.
I’ve ordered Dean Vaughn’s “Remembering Names” (it was shipped today). I’m hoping he’s got a good list of images for names in it. I looked at Lorayne’s book on names and didn’t like the images for names he used. I am going to compile a list of images for many first names and surnames. This, in addition to other techniques, should make a big improvement. At Joshua Foer’s book lecture someone asked the typical question about how to remember names. Foer handed the question off to Nelson Dellis. Dellis said to simply repeat back the person’s name after they say it. And my suggestion is to follow that up with a mental repeating of the name and play around with it a little.
And of course, practice, practice, practice. Look at name tags and try to remember names in articles. For images for names you come across.
I have just finished the list of objects for female names. I used Ronnie White’s partial list posted on his website, a booklet from a memory course in the 1980’s, and Dean Vaugh’s “How to Remember Names” (1980). The list is approximately 540 female names (give or take 10). I plan to complete the male names in a few days and surnames at the end of the week. I will add some different names from two other books I previously used (Harry Lorayne and another). I will post this list on the wiki page for all to download and use. NB: where there are different object’s used I included all of them so someone can choose which works best for them. E.g., Aaron- air gun; arrow. Candace/Candice- canned ice; can on a desk. Sometimes I included three separate objects to choose from. I used one name per line of course.
I will then go to the list of 1000 most common first names at the U.S. Census Bureau and the list of the 1000 most common surnames from the U.S. Social Security Administration and do my best to create audionyms or objects for each name. This is big project so I might just give it a shot and then post the lists on wiki for others to help work on and fill out. This is an ambitious project, one that I cannot find elsewhere in print or on the web, but it is something that will be extremely useful for mnemonists and others who need or want to remember people’s names. It will serve as an excellent base, if not comprehensive list, from which to master the art of remembering names.
There are only two approaches. Try to create and have as many name audionyms in your repertoire beforehand. If you have audionyms for the 1000 most popular first names and 1000 audionyms for the 1000 most popular surnames my guess is you cover a huge chunk or personal names. For those names without audionyms you are forced to create them on the fly. And this is a problem, because names are not often pronounced as they are written, so if you get a name in writing how can you create an audionym? Additionally, some common names are pronounced differently. I have been toying with the possibility of creating audionyms for sound chunks, with the same patterns of consonants and vowels. But I am not a linguist and would not know where to start. Example: Ha, hay, ho, he, hee, hi,… = image [a], image [b], image [c], image [d], image [e],… La, lay, lo, le, lee, hi,… = image [v], image [w], image , etc… So “Holloran” which be image [a] + image , etc. IMO, this project is doable, but requires Ben Pridmore-esque cleverness and tenacity.
My mnemonic system for numbers is designed to have ~3000+ sounds encoded into images. I’ll post a detailed description of how it works in my next blog post. It’s a modified Ben System with another couple hundred images. Even if your mnemonic system isn’t phonetic, you might be able to apply some of the ideas to a non-phonetic system, using only a few hundred images.
When I mentioned that it could probably be done with just a few hundred images, I meant that you could simplify the system a bit, expanding it through image modifiers. For example, I doubled my sounds for 2-digit numbers by adding an image modifier (“encased in a block of ice”) to reverse the way the number is pronounced. By having multiple image modifiers, you might be able to expand a couple hundred basic sounds into many…
You were working on a big project a while back on converting names to pictures for both men and women. I was wondering if you posted that list somewhere? I checked wiki but didn’t see it. If you didn’t get a chance to post it, please do.Thanks,
Josh,
'Thanks Josh. I’ve got the Ron White list and was hoping for Dan’s expanded list. N&M is a difficult category for me. I guess I was being a little lazy. I found, when reading my wife’s yearbooks that I could just make the pictures up and write them down, revisit them and I would absorb the image better. Still a tough area for me.
I am wondering if it has any out-of- the- ordinary information in it. There are videos of him recalling the names on the internet, the same with many other people who recall the names in dramatic fashion, having people stand up and sit down when their name is called. But there is very little video of people actually memorizing the names.
One thing he would often do, and I have seen Lorayne do this on video as well, is tell people if they have moved seats. To anyone who doesn’t know about memory that seems like it is more impressive, but if someone was attaching more than just a name to a feature it might be a hint to something else. (???)
I just took a look at the video for the even from the Bazan Center 03 Names and Faces I was previously not aware of the rules for this (or really, any other event) I am curious if everyone gets the same pictures on the event ? and how the pictures are selected as well as if everyone is tested at the same time.
-I notice there is no rule against getting the names and faces prior to the event. This seems very strange to me as an outsider to competitions.
Likewise, I have always wondered that about other events, for example in cards does everyone get a randomly shuffled deck of cards ? or does everyone get a deck of cards in the same order to keep it “fair” ? Are decks provided by the event ? are people allowed to bring in their own cards ? (these questions are asked because the issue of “security” was raised and I know a little bit about “gaming” security)
