I HATE it when people shorten my name! This isn’t the same as mishearing or misreading it but deliberately abbreviating it. My son, by contrast, hates it when people lengthen his name because they assume that it is a contraction of another common name.
Names are important to us. They are part of our identity.
This is why it is so important to remember people’s names. But what do you do if you have the memory of a flip flop?
A brilliant tip that I picked up is to repeat their name three times.
Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice?
This is what I try to do at networking events:
- When you are introduced to somebody it is simple to reply with “Nice to meet you Beetlejuice” (or whatever their name is)
- Then ask them a question using their name eg “where are you from, Beetlejuice?”
- Then introduce them to somebody else eg “Lydia, can I introduce you to Beetlejuice?” (This gets you brownie points for being a good networker too)