HOW TO REMEMBER PROPER NAMES WHEN INTRODUCED.
An infallible method of remembering proper names is (1) Get the name when introduced. If not quite sure, ask for it. (2) Pronounce the name aloud whilst looking at the person. Do this several times, if possible. The object is to produce a concurrence or connection between the sight-image of the Person and a sound-image of his Name. (3) To help the ear for sound, always pronounce everyone’s name aloud whenever you meet him. This helps nature. These directions carried out never fail to make a pupil perfect in remembering proper names.
To remember proper names in the absence of the person, correlate the Person’s Name to the name of some Peculiarity of the Person (as the best known and) which you are sure to think of whenever you think of the Person. If you memorise the Correlation, you will recall the Name whenever you think of this Peculiarity (whatever struck you about him).
To remember a proper name, Mnemonists resort to In., by S. But this alone gives no starting point, no “Best Known” which you are certain to think of, and which will enable you to recall the name, provided you cement by a memorised Correlation the “Best Known” to the name itself; in fact, a similarity of sound alone and by itself is likely to mislead you into reviving itself instead of the name. A celebrated Member of Parliament (who in the days of his youth, before he had greatly tested Mnemonics, gave a high opinion of its value) was to deliver an address at the Birkbeck Institution, some years ago. Having difficulty in remembering proper names, he thought he would fix the name of its founder in his memory by the Mnemonical device of finding a word that sounded like it; he said to himself, “It reminds me of ‘Pinchbeck.’” He commenced as follows: “Before coming to the subject on which I am to speak this evening, I desire to pay a deserved tribute of praise to the founder of this great Institution, the celebrated Mr. Pinchbeck.” A shout of laughter revealed to him that Mnemonics may get us into trouble, and fail to help us out: he could not remember the real name, Birkbeck, until it was told him. If he had mastered this System, his new memory-power would have enabled him to remember the true name without any device; or, if he was but a beginner at my System he could have remembered the name Birkbeck—which he was afraid he would forget—by correlating it to the word—“Founder,” which he did remember, thus:—Founder … lost way … hark-back … Birkbeck; or, Founder … foundered horse … chestnut horse … chestnut … bur … Birkbeck. If he had memorised either of these Correlations, or one of his own, by repeating the intermediates forwards and backwards two or three times, and then recalled the two extremes, “Founder,” “Birkbeck,” several times, the moment he thought of Founder, he would instantly have recalled Birkbeck, one extreme recalling the other without the intermediates being recalled. When one has received only a third of the benefit of this System as a Memory-trainer, the mere making of a Correlation ensures remembering two extremes together without thinking of intermediates.
- To what must we correlate a person’s name?
- What will be the result if we memorise the correlation?
- To what do Mnemonists resort to remember proper names?
- Does this alone give a starting point?
- What is a similarity of sound alone likely to do?
[Dr. Johnson, when introduced to a stranger repeated his name several times aloud and sometimes spelled it. This produced a vivid first impression of the man’s name; but it did not connect the name to the man who bore it. People who have adopted the Johnsonian Method sometimes remember the name but apply it to the wrong person, because they did not establish any relation between the name and the man to whom it belonged.]
EXERCISES IN CORRELATING.
Make 20 of your own Correlations between faces and names (or between words and meanings), using some of the extremes given by me, and, as other extremes (words, &c., of your own selection, or) names and faces of your own acquaintances.
| Peculiarity. | Correlation. | Proper Names. |
|---|---|---|
| Cross-eyed | Cross-bow … bowman | Mr. Archer |
| Wavy hair | dancing wave … Morris dance | Mr. Morrison |
| Black eyes | white … snow … pure as snow | Mr. Virtue |
| Retreating chin | retiring … home-bird | Mr. Holmes |
| High instep | high boots … mud … peat | Mr. Peat |
| Crooked legs | broken legs … crushed | Mr. Crushton |
| Apprehension | suspension … gallows | Mr. Galloway |
| Sombre | sad … mourning … hat-band | Mr. Hatton |
| Music | stave … bar | Mr. Barcroft |
| Violinist | violin … high note … whistle | Mr. Birtwistle |
| Painter | paint … colored cards … whist | Mr. Hoyle |
| Plumber | plum-pudding … victuals | Mr. Whittles |
| Joiner | wood … ash | Mr. Ashworth |
- Is it ever possible to remember two extremes without thinking of the intermediates?
- In what cases?
- What did Dr. Johnson sometimes do when introduced to a stranger?
- What sometimes occurs with people who have adopted the Johnsonian Method?
- Why is this?
- As Max Müller names mental acts in this order: Sensation, Perception, Conception, Naming, and Memory, would he hold that failure to remember names implies weakness of naming power? No! Remembering a name is an act wholly unlike imposing a name in the first instance. Such failure arises from weakness of the auditory function, or of the perception of individual peculiarities or failure of the sight-image to become cemented to the sound image.