Posted on 02. Nov, 2009 by Caveman

Making Names Memorable

Once you have read a few books and articles about Memory techniques, you should know that a key method of remembering information is to visualise the object and to make a strong association.

This works well if the object is an object, animal, vegetable or mineral. I remember an association exercise of visualising the association between a dog and a bicycle. I still remember a Labrador leaning forward on a racing bike and pedalling as fast as he can.

But what happens when you want to remember things which aren’t so tangible such as people’s names, chemical elements, names of countries, capital cities, or foreign vocabulary? The memory books usually tell us to think of a word that reminds you of what you want to memorise.

Converting abstract words into memorable image is another memory skill requiring a good imagination, a flexible and creative mind. In this article I explore the challenge of converting people’s names to memorable images. A popular method of long term memorising of names is to associate a person’s name with a particular facial feature.

Key image evokes the  name

The goal of converting names to memorable images is that-given the image, the original name is easily recalled.  For example,  suppose you used the image of a Dentist whenever you met someone named Dennis. The next time you see this man, you recall the association of a dentist’s mirror or drill with a unique facial feature, then you recall the name of Dennis.

The techniques

How can you convert names into memorable images? Here are a collection of techniques I have used to convert names to images.

1. Strong cultural reference.  The story of Adam and Eve (from the Old Testament book of Genesis) is well known in Western Civilisation. Artists have typically painted a fig leaf over Adam’s groin.  Therefore, you could use the image of a FIG LEAF to remind you of Adam.  The Star of David is a strong image for the name of DAVID.

2. Words that sound similar.  What does the name sound like? You may have to slightly change the vowel sound. For example: Owl for Al, Android for Andrew.

3. Rhyming words. Does the name rhyme with another word and have some similarity in sound? For example: Leg Sander for Alexander.

4. Is the name used by something else? Angus is a breed of bull, so you could use the word Bull to remind you of Angus. However this has to be a strong personal association for you, otherwise why would Angus make you think of Bull?

5. Is the word the beginning of another word? I use the association of Ant for Ann, as this is what I get when add the letter T to Ann.

6. Does the beginning of the word remind you of another word? The first part of the name Barbara is barb which reminds me of barbed wire (often used in farm fences).

7. Vowel substitution.  This is when you change the vowel in the word to other vowels to see if this makes a memorable word. In the English language, the vowel sounds are A, E, I, O and U. Each vowel has a long and short sound, for example Cap and Cape both have the A vowel but are examples of short and long pronunciation.  An example is the name of Brad could be Bread, Breed, Bride, Brood, Brode. My choice is BREAD but you could use the image of BRIDE but that would be strange for a man’s name.

8. Nonsense Image. Can you create a bizarre image from parts of the name? The name of Elliot could be sounded as Eel-Yacht. Create a strong image of a yacht with an eel entwined around the mast and controlling the wheel. Isabelle reminds me of Isle (Island) and Bell, so the image could be a large bell on a small island. Maybe the bell is so big it shades the entire island.

The ultimate test of a key image is if the image causes you to recall the name it stands for.

Please use the Forum to submit your favourite substitute names.

Further reading:

1. Article  on associating names with images on the MemorySkills blog.

2. My List of substitute names for Boys and Girls.

Tags: Names