I can’t remember anyone's name. Faces I’m good with, but if I had to stake my life on remembering your name I’d be dead. I regularly call my son by our dog Spot’s name, which is mortifying for both of us for more reasons than I have space to write about. It’s not just because I’m middle aged. It’s a family trait. My Dad calls it his forgettory and, as a woman with 3 sisters, I’m used to Dad calling me by every other female family member's name before he gets to mine. My social life moving forward is looking dodgy as hell if people expect me to remember their names while in conversation with them.


In my perfect world, everyone would wear name tags, or a badge that says "hey, I can't remember your name!". I feel so strongly about this I have a badge for sale that say's exactly this!

It solves so many problems I’ve always loved a uniform, but it can’t be ignored that one of the reasons for this love is because uniforms almost always come with name tags. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember someone's name due to a temporary brain malfunction when you can snap a quick gaze at their name tag and carry on with the conversation as if you knew their name all along. 


I’d like to present an argument for name tags to be compulsory outside of the workplace. Have you ever been to a conference (another situation that helpfully supplies name tags) and forgotten to take off your name tag at the end of the day? Happens to me all the time, and every time it results in people behaving nicely. There is something about seeing a stranger's name, in this age of social media trolls who lurk in the shadows of cyberspace, that can make people nicer. Not always - there will always be arseholes waiting to rain misery on others for their own edification - but more often than not.


I’m not the first to suggest that name tags be compulsory. In the TV show Seinfeld, Elaine suggests that if she ran for mayor, she'd make everyone wear name tags all the time as they make people friendlier (Season 5, Episode 7).


In an article which I adore because I wholeheartedly agree with it called “Name Tags Can Change the World”, Joe Burgum tells us about how at the age of 15 years old, he climbed onto a bus for his first volunteering trip and was instantly greeted by the faces of 40 strangers. The first thing he thought was, “How am I going to remember everyone’s name?”


He started wearing a name tag my sophomore year of high school. At the time, he was doing a lot of volunteering and it made sense for him to wear a name tag. Over the years, it has become a part of who he is; people have come to expect that he wears a name tag. 


But what’s the benefit of joining my social name tag revolution?

  • Relationships - Names are building blocks of relationships and community. By wearing a name tag, you empower the people around you to interact with you and use your name. Forgetting someone's name is no reason not to start a conversation, but is often the excuse. With name tags, there is no risk of that awkward moment.
  • Joy - There is nothing quite like holding the door for a person and for them to be able to say, “Thank you, Joe.” The intimacy of knowing someone’s name is one of the purest interactions we can have with each other. By being able to use someone’s name, the interaction becomes that much more powerful.
  • Ice Breaker - Wearing a name tag is a great ice-breaker in all situations: business gatherings, house parties, formals, work, travel and the list goes on. Wearing a name tag in situations where no one else is wearing one tends to be unusual enough that people will often ask why (which is a conversation starter in itself, a great one as it’s an open ended question?).
  • When we know someone’s name we are given a key to that individual. Their name is their identity (mangled Sneakers reference anyone?).  It’s how we remember people. If everyone we interacted with literally had a name to their face, I feel that we would all gain a new level of empathy for others.


If it’s one thing this world could use, it’s more empathy and kindness.