Names

I have always had trouble remembering peoples names. I was at my last job for more then 10 years, and even on the day I left I still didn't know peoples names, people that I spoke with every day. I spend a lot of my time at my current job nodding and smiling and making idle chit-chat with people that seem to know me, but I have no clue who they are.

I'm just as bad with actors and characters. So bad that I can forget which character is which while watching the show. Then I just frustrate Hilary with weird questions like "Didn't he die just after the opening scene?" To which she replies "no, that was the blond woman who died, this is the red-headed cop who is investigating," Right... gotcha. Needless to say I am often very lost during movies.

And yet I have this uncanny ability to remember all 100+ names of Liam's stuffed animals. I can tell the difference between his 5 tigers: Tickles who was Tammy's that she gave him the day he was born, Ralphie who goes everywhere with us (and really is just another member of the family), baby Ralphie, Ralph, little Ralphie -- Okay, maybe the tigers are a bad example, since there seems to be some sort of George Foreman thing going on. But show me a stuffed Toucan and I can shout out Snap, or a bear from Build-a-Bear and I know that it's Benjamin, a stuffed Bulldog is Buster and on an on. I can even remember which car is Tex and which one is Leakless from the movie Cars.

I don't even try anymore to remember my on-line friends real names, unless their forum name is something really simple like Jensboys. Of course if we were to meet in real life I would end up calling her Jensboys!! I even have family members whose names I don't remember. Granted I have 50+ cousins on my father's side, so it is a lot to keep track of, but still, I really should be able to keep family names in my head!

Any great suggestions on remembering names, or understanding why I can remember stuffies and not real people?