Thoughts for Thursday (3) : What's your name again?


Welcome to Thoughts for Thursday! This feature is our outlet to talk with you about whatever we currently have on our minds. It might be bookish, it might not! Now for this week's thought:

What is your Name Again.... I am Terrible At Names!



So I have always known that I am absolutely terrible with names, I can hang out with people all day after meeting them for the first time and then not remember their name.  I know it is terrible.  It is not that I don't care, I just have a tendency to always blank when it comes to names. 

I have just recently realized I translate this into my reading as well.  If I wait longer than a just a couple of days to write my review I end up always looking up the secondary characters' names.  It is not that the book is just easy to forget (though sometimes that is the case), I am just bad with remembering names.  

I have noticed that it happens more often when the names are more popular.  If the name is something crazy or more unusual then I almost never struggle.  I may struggle with the spelling but not with remember.  For example, Perry and Roar in Under the Never Sky... no problem.  Blue from Raven Boys no problem.  Now ask me who the main character or one of the secondary character is in a more contemporary book or book that has more common names.... I will struggle for a bit.  

Does any one else struggle with names?  Or are you exceptionally good with names?  What about character names?


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12 comments:

  1. I am the exact same about names. It's terribly embarassing at times. It's not that I don't care, it's just when I meet new people it's often in situation in which I'm meeting a lot of people or I'm preoccupied taking care of something else (like when I'm helping host a party/event). I feel bad, but I think most people understand? I'm even worse when it comes to book characters. I can read and adore a book, and then later that day or the next day I won't remember a single name.

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    1. That is the whole thing, I try to tell my bf (he is super good with names), it is not that I don't care! Glad I am not alone :)

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  2. True story: we have been calling our neighbour, "Mark" for the last seven years we've lived in our house. The other day, he gave my husband a football jersey because he knew my husband is a big fan of that team. He then said, "oh by they way, my name is MATT not MARK." The horror! Lol.

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    1. Hahah I can imagine! Instant blushing face :)

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  3. I'm becoming really bad with names. I don't know the cause for real life blunders, but it's especially bad with books. I'll finish a book and go to write my review - like literally put the book down and pick up my laptop - and have no idea what any of the characters names were. The names usually come to me after a minute, but I sit there with a completely blank mind thinking I'm going crazy.

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  4. I'm horrible with names (in real life and in books). I'm just like you, I will read a book and if I start reading another one I almost immediately forget everyone's names (especially secondary characters but sometimes the main ones unless they have an unusual name or their name is part of the book's title or something, like Cinder. I think that's bound to happen if you read a lot of books. ~Pam

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  5. I am REALLY bad at remembering names, especially if they have different spellings. I feel so bad when I have to go back and look and I just spent the whole book with one of these characters! I wonder if it's me being bad with names or if it really is that they didn't make an impact on me. Hmmmm I will have to pay more attention!

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  6. The thing I forget are full names when the short name is more popular. Example: Captain Carswell Thorne (I only know it because I have the book in my hands), but everyone is referring to him as Thorne. So in a couple of weeks, the only thing I still know about him is Captain Thorne. Most of the times I'm not that bad with names (I'm very bad with birthdays though, haha)

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  7. Oh gosh, you're DEF. not alone! I LITERALLY forget the names of the characters RIGHT AFTER I read the book! I'll be like "soooo...who was the main character again?" I have no idea why I forget their names so easily. It's so annoying! Especially when I'm writing my review in the living room and then I have my book upstairs in my room. Ugh. I'd have to go upstairs and look up the characters' names.

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  8. I'm usually pretty good with names actually. I can read a book and review a few weeks later with almost no problems. I only have an issue remembering the name of that obscure, random character that only got mentioned a few times, but is somehow still important. Now in real life it could be a hit or miss. I can remember the name without a face, like someone got mentioned, but putting the name to a face is a bit more of a struggle for me, although I will remember that I did actually meet you xD

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  9. I am *awful* with names. If a book is one that I just simply enjoyed then I have such a hard time remembering the characters' names. It's different if it's one that I fangirl over, but that's expected, I think. I'm constantly having to look through Goodreads to try to find out the names of the love interests or secondary characters if they didn't have much of an impact on me. Even in some of my favourite books, like Before I Fall for example, I can't remember the names of any of the characters. To be fair, I did read that one three years ago, but still.

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  10. I always struggle with names!!! The worst was when I was interviewed for a job and I was so nervous I didn't take any names in and then I got the job and got lucky that everyone was introduced to me again because I couldn't remember a single name. :) I'm the same way when writing a review too, I always have to go back and look up the names again. Maybe we have a name forgetting disease!

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