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Asperger's and having a hard time with people's names?

psychotopsy

psychotopsy

Active Member
Hello!

There's something I've been wondering. I have always had a hard time remembering people's names. It can be confusing for example when watching TV shows or films or reading books because I struggle with remembering people's names. I don't know the names of most of my favourite characters but I can recognize them when I see a picture. It also takes me a long time to learn everyone's names when I meet new people. It really is frustrating at times. Then I met a fellow aspie who said they experienced the same thing.
I know that not recognizing people's faces is something that can be related to autism/asperger's but can not recognizing names be connected too? Is anyone else experiencing this?
 
psychotopsy said:
Hello!

There's something I've been wondering. I have always had a hard time remembering people's names. It can be confusing for example when watching TV shows or films or reading books because I struggle with remembering people's names. I don't know the names of most of my favourite characters but I can recognize them when I see a picture. It also takes me a long time to learn everyone's names when I meet new people. It really is frustrating at times. Then I met a fellow aspie who said they experienced the same thing.
I know that not recognizing people's faces is something that can be related to autism/asperger's but can not recognizing names be connected too? Is anyone else experiencing this?
Click to expand...
Sure, that makes sense. I have trouble with both of those things.
 
Experiencing Face-Blindness & not remembering people's names is common for me but more aggravating is when I persistently fix a wrong name to somebody...Sometimes they might vaguely remind me of someone else & so I confuse their name or else I just get this idea that they are called something that they're not & even when I am aware of this error, I find it really difficult to stop calling them by the original wrong name :)
 
I have difficulty remembering faces, but not names. I will remember that so-and-so's wife is called Ellen, but when I see Ellen in the street I won't recognise her.
 
Sometimes I can remember faces and sometimes not. I can't detect any rhyme or reason for it. I have a tendency to not look at people's faces, so I figured that maybe that was part of it. So I overcompensate and stare. Aaaaand it makes people kind of uncomfortable. And I still can't remember what they look like afterwards. *derp*

I've confused people who look nothing alike. I've confused people with different skin tones or hair color. It can get a little awkward sometimes.
 
I'm not good with names. What really helps me is to see it written down somewhere, but introductions over the phone or face-to-face are hard because as soon as it's over the name leaves my mind again. If I already know someone with the same name, it'll stick, but I need to see or pronounce new names several times.
 
I always have to smile when I see this subject. Reminds me of my first day at work in a very large office. Where I really needed to learn many names and faces quite quickly. The stress...but my survival instincts overcame it all. I desperately needed the job which quickly evolved into a long-term career.

But those first few days...holy cow, I don't know how I made it through all that. I took copious notes...and even wrote down those names and their job titles if I knew them.
 
I have a hard time remembering names and I don't recognize my co workers if I see them elsewhere. Names of objects also eludes me. The common things no problem give me a tool or something I don't use all the time and I can't name it. I am good with numbers.
 
I remember way to many names but that's because I have an obsession to read all the credits after a movie or show, jeez I still remember the names of voice actors from cartoons I watched as a kid.
 
Yes I always forget people's names and I also struggle with recognising faces sometimes even if It's a person that I met numerous of times,I didn't recognise my husband's friends girlfriend who I have met on numerous occasions when she came up to me in a shopping mall ladies room one time and I didn't know who she was until she told me who she was,This has happened a few times with other people i know and it has been embarrassing for me at times.
 
I remember names if I see them written down, like movie credits but, just hearing them spoken, I need to see the person and, hear the name several times before I connect the name to the face.

Even with actors, I get the image form the first movie I saw them in stuck and, have trouble recognizing them when they look different in a different movie.
 
I had, until a few months ago, had felt I was like a ghost living among ghosts.
I never realized their humanity. My bad. They never heard me and I never heard them.
I never"heard" the name in the first place. Of all the sounds the ear can here, ones name is always a favorite. It ingratiates, a double goodness with little effort and no risk. If you are like me ask over and over until you get it. One of life's little challenges.
Just one more thing, since I joined AC something like a dude with a. 'Tude crawled out of a box of my own creation, me, mysel, I spoke with a weak, thready voice and you permited me to rave like a moonitic. I feel stronger now, and hope to lift some spirits.
Oh somehow my voice is has increased my social confidence and I can grasp most names.
My past experience may not be applicable to your life.
Just maybe, gently reach in and find your voice. We need voice.
 
I can never remember names unless I associate them with something, usually a rhyme or song. As I don't recognise faces either, it can be embarrasing.
 
Harrison said:
I can never remember names unless I associate them with something, usually a rhyme or song. As I don't recognise faces either, it can be embarrasing.
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Harrison, yup me too. It may be a case of any association is better than no association. I link amusing or unforgettable things to give a clue to the name, but sometime I can't hang on to the name for 2 mins, then I smile, and ask again. Sometimes I get it, and that is a dramatic shift from I seldom ever got the name, before.
 
I'm awful at names and faces. I'm more likely to recognize haircuts/voices than anything else. I can know someone for months before I get their names right, though Facebook makes it easier for me. If I see names in print enough times, I'm more likely to remember. I will avoid using names at all costs, though, because I'm never confident that I'm remembering right.
 
When I worked in an office I had to give out the post which was a nightmare. In the end I drew a 'map' of the desks and wrote names on it. I used that to hand out post and learned their names much quicker. But if there were extra people coming and going I'd never remember who they were and they'd know me so I'd pretend to know!! Recently I've been volunteering in a school and each time I went in they'd casually ask if I knew the kids now.. err no! How quickly should people learn a class full of names?? They'd give me a list of kids to read with and I'd have no clue.. I'd be so worried to ask I'd ask the children to find who I needed!!
 
In high school I once ended up having to give out the graded tests. Even though I had been with them in class for almost an entire year I only knew half of their names

Ever since I really try to focus on learning peoples names, it gets better but I'm still not very good. I tend to just avoid names and I love how people at work wear name-tags and such :3
 
I am terrible remembering names! And yes, me too with book reading; can never keep up with the character's names!

It takes me a few occasions to grasp the name of someone.

Worse because of living in France and French names are sometimes pretty chronic and I end up getting horribly confused!
 
I managed to go a whole year to school without knowing my teachers names. I did learn them but it was near the end of the second year that I had with them.

I think that a lot of us aspies/auties are visual thinkers and thats why names don't really help us to remember a person.
 
Skye81 said:
But if there were extra people coming and going I'd never remember who they were and they'd know me so I'd pretend to know!!
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Omigoawsh yes! What's worse is sometimes I do remember, but it takes me too long to place them for it to matter, so I've been bullshitting basically the entire conversation up to that point.
 
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