names

My youngest daughter just recently started taking karate at a local dojo. One interesting thing about the classes is that kids come twice per week, but they're free to come to any session throughout the week. Depending on which nights we go, we see a lot of the same kids, but it's always a slightly different blend of folks depending on everyone's schedules.

What stuck out to me was that by the second training session, the instructors knew my daughter's name perfectly. She didn't need to be signed in, didn't wear a name tag, they just knew who she was, just as they knew the names of the six to ten other kids in her class. They also knew the names of every person in the advanced group of about 20 people that waits patiently off to the side while the youngins finish their practice.

I can barely remember the names of a few of my kids' friends, so I was immediately in awe of this skill—not to mention, jealous.

Teachers meet dozens or even hundreds of new students every year and are expected to have all of their names memorized within the first few days of school. How do they do it?

Don't be like the famous Key and Peele substitute teacher sketch. Giphy

It's not unlike the karate instructors at my kids' dojo, who interact with a constantly-rotating cast of different children, teens, and even adults. How do they manage to keep all the names straight? Never mind remembering specific details about each person like their strengths, weakness, personalities, and interests—how do they consistently place the right name to a face?

To answer this, here's what real teachers are saying.

One thread on Reddit is full of tips and tricks from veteran teachers.

One user, an English teacher, recommended raising the stakes by setting a penalty for yourself if you don't learn the names: "I have 100 students and I told them that if I didn’t know their first and last names by the third day of school I’d bake them cookies. I made them sit in the same seat every single day. I’ve done that for five years and have never failed. It’s the idea of baking that many cookies that drives me!"

Another swears by good, old-fashioned repetition: "I make sure to use their names as often as possible during BOY. 'Yes, Sara.' 'Thank you, Sara.' 'Good point, Sara' the repetition helps me."

One teacher tracks their progress in learning the names visually: "I designate a white board to 'names' and every student in every class makes a postit with his/her name on it. For the first days of school, kids get the post-it off the board and put it on the fronts of their desks so I can see their names. The other benefit is that it helps me take attendance the first week or so. After a couple of weeks I start to remove post-its for the kids whose names I know - so then there's maybe 5 per class with the post-its and then I learn those and then mission accomplished!"

Another says they try to peg some kind of personal detail to a student's name to make it stickier in their memory: "I do my best to know something unique and identifiable about each kid, not a physical feature, just a personality or background detail that makes them easier to call to mind. Working with middle school kids, this relationship building aspect is absolutely crucial."

Marieum, who works as a substitute teacher, doesn't have the luxury of slowly learning kids' names throughout the course of several days or weeks. She has a few special tricks of her own up her sleeve.

"When I take attendance... I tell my students, 'Teach me your name', instead of 'Tell me your name.' That way they can tell me of any nicknames, any kind of pronunciation." That helps make the interactions more memorable and personal. She also says she tries not to fault herself for forgetting a name. After all, she's only human.

"Don't be shy to ask... 'Hey, remind me your name.'"

Teacher Samantha Pasche sets aside five minutes per day the first few days of school to practice all of her students' names, then she actually quizzes herself on them and tracks her improvement.

Her goal is to learn 100% of her student's names by the end of the third day. She'll even have her students switch desks multiple times that first week so that she can re-quiz herself based on the new arrangement–ensuring she's not just memorizing the order of the names, but actually learning the faces. What a dedicated educator!

It's maybe not as applicable to us non-teachers, but imagine if you could get a roster of, say, your kid's classmates and their parents, or their teammates on the soccer team, or even everyone in a new friend group you've been spending time with. Could you quiz yourself for five minutes per day for three days and burn those names and faces into your memory forever?

Tamara says she has about 170 new students every year and it takes about a month for her to learn their names. Even then, she misses a few and still makes lot of mistakes. But her advice is still spot on:

"Just let them know that you love them, just be there for them. They're gonna love you. Don't be nervous."

It's a good reminder that a lot of people are bad at names. If you're feeling anxious about not remembering someone's name, there's no guarantee that they remember yours either! Just be honest and kind to people and the names will come when they come.

A lot of teachers on Reddit, TikTok, and other social media swear by the classics. The art and science of remembering people's names really boils down to a few things:

The first is repetition. When you're first learning someone's name, the more you can use it while you interact with them, the quicker your brain will peg the name to their face. One teacher on TikTok says learning the correct spelling and pronunciation of names, then repeating them as often as possible, helps her learn over 150 new names every year.

Next is either a visual or mnemonic device to help make a name catchier and stickier. One teacher on social media wrote she asks students to introduce themselves with an alliterative description, like Genius Jenny or Nice Nicole. Rhymes are great, too! Like Red Ted, if Ted has red hair, or memorable nicknames like Jake the Snake.

One thing we can all learn from teachers is the time, care, and dedication they take to get to know their students. Many of them practice and study names, with correct spelling and punctuation, and realize the importance of that in building the relationship. All the tricks and memory games in the world won't help you if you don't make the effort to authentically connect with people, but a few ideas from the pros can really help.