--- title: Useful Tips to Remember Anyone's Name description: Whether you’re at a wedding or a happy hour, here are the tips that can help you walk into a room, meet someone and remember their name. canonical: https://time.com/4314197/remember-names/ author: Rachel Hofstetter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-04T17:44:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:22.790Z og:title: 4 Useful Tips to Help You Remember Anyone’s Name og:description: You’ll never have to ask someone to remind you of their name again og:url: https://time.com/4314197/remember-names/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc57025317ffc0383/698891710a4a222ec19c97bd/name-memorization-tips-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: name-memorization-tips-advice og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 4 Useful Tips to Help You Remember Anyone’s Name twitter:description: You’ll never have to ask someone to remind you of their name again twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc57025317ffc0383/698891710a4a222ec19c97bd/name-memorization-tips-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 4 Useful Tips to Help You Remember Anyone’s Name by [Rachel Hofstetter](https://time.com/author/rachel-hofstetter/) ## Rachel Hofstetter May 4, 2016 5:44 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Rachel Hofstetter](https://time.com/author/rachel-hofstetter/) ## Rachel Hofstetter May 4, 2016 5:44 PM UTC As the founder of a company called [guesterly](https://www.guesterly.com/) designed to help you meet new people at events, I get asked about the best way to remember names—a lot! Whether you’re at a wedding or a networking happy hour, here are the tips that can help you walk into a room, meet someone great and remember their name—both immediately and down the road. **1\. Say their name…a lot**As soon as you’re told a name, say it as many times as you can. It might feel a little silly, but it works. Simply use it to start a few sentences: “Sara, you will not believe what he did next!” If you feel awkward, you can even let your new friend in on why you’re saying their name so often. For example: “I really like what you’re doing and want to make sure I remember your name, Sara. I’ve heard that if you say a name a number of times you’ll remember a name better—what do you think?” **2\. Ask them about their name**A story about how the name came to be, like that their last name is a Quaker name that was first used in Virginia in 1690, can go a long way toward helping you remember it. Plus, you’ve now started a conversation. You can also ask about unusual spellings or what version of a name they use. For example, asking: “Is that Rachel with an ‘e’ or Rachael with an ‘a’?” can help implant that name on your brain. **_Read more:_** [_The One Word Tom Hanks Says Made Him More Successful_](http://motto.time.com/4307802/tom-hanks-success-word/) **3\.** **Write it down**Whenever you meet a new person, take a few moments to write down their name. I’ll even pull out my phone and send myself an email before heading home from an event so I have the names I want to remember ready when I’m back at my computer. Then you’ll be able to connect on social media the next day, and voila: You’ve been reminded of their name several times and will now also see it pop up in your feeds—so you’ll be much more likely to remember it. As a bonus, you’ll also have a more established connection with them. **4\. Talk about their life**Don’t forget to have a great conversation. That way, even if you forget the person’s name, you’ll still remember talking about that time they went cliff diving in Aruba. And you can lead with that when you see them next. Better yet: Associate their life story with their name. For example, Amy cliff dives in Aruba, and she becomes Aruba Amy. Now her name is much easier to remember. [_Rachel Hofstetter_](http://www.twitter.com/rachelhoffy) _is the cofounder of_ [_guesterly_](http://guesterly.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4314197/remember-names/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4314197/remember-names/"},"headline":"4 Useful Tips to Help You Remember Anyone’s Name","datePublished":"2016-05-04T17:44:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:22.790Z","description":"You’ll never have to ask someone to remind you of their name again","url":"https://time.com/4314197/remember-names/","keywords":["motto","advice"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc57025317ffc0383/698891710a4a222ec19c97bd/name-memorization-tips-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rachel Hofstetter","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rachel-hofstetter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc57025317ffc0383/698891710a4a222ec19c97bd/name-memorization-tips-advice.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"name-memorization-tips-advice","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4314197/remember-names/","name":"4 Useful Tips to Help You Remember Anyone’s Name"}}]}] ```