Why Can't I Remember Names?

All of us have dealt with the embarrassment of not remembering a person's name and fumbling through a conversation. Are you losing your memory? No. It has to do with names themselves and not impending senility. This article suggests that names are really "arbitary and meaningless" and need to be linked with something else to keep them in mind. Perhaps joining a person's name with their occupation or thinking of something humorous or vivid when you meet. Repetition also works: if you repeat someone’s name back after introductions and use it at least once in conversation, it can can help fix it in your mind.