It’s not a childhood trauma thing. I had a decent upbringing. I’ve been like this all my life. I’ll talk about people using their name to others when the named person isn’t around, but I avoid using their name as a vocative to their face.
Same thing with people using my name. I don’t mind people summoning me by calling my name, but I cringe when people use my name as a vocative in front of me. I also get irritated when people I don’t know and have no intention of establishing a relationship with use my name.
I worked in a call center and we had the usual opening “thank you for calling _____ my name is early_riser, how can I help you?” I assumed the unspoken rule was that I’m giving my name so the client can later refer to me in complaints or commendations, not because I want to establish anything more than a client-employee relationship. Also, I always use “sir” or “ma’am” when addressing clients, and hope they reciprocate that respect.
Edit:
Yes I know what names are for. Also “angry” was too strong a word. I don’t lash out at people when they do this. I understand that people are trying to be friendly when they use my name and that the irritation is unwarranted, but it’s there and I want to know why.
I’m just bad with remembering names so I’ve learned to just not use them.
Hah, for me exactly the opposite: I repeat peoples’ names when I talk to them so I remember them. At first it felt awkward, like OP described, but now I do it naturally without thinking.
I tried that and it didn’t work, just like all the other memory tricks. Hell, I talk to four friends online almost every single day for over a decade and occasionally one of their names slips my mind.
ADHD sure makes social interactions fun!
i write down people’s names when i first meet them on a notebook in my phone. it works!
i.e.: 2026-05-12, university, department of chemistry, charlie (in the context of a new research group i encountered)
note that the example is made up. nobody’s called charlie.
I do something similar! Though my notes are usually more like
Charli - girl w nice ass in yellow pants
Tommy - her bf :(
hahah, wasn’t expecting that
Cool, cool. While doing multiple things can slightly improve the chances of me remembering someone’s name until the next time I sleep when my brain flushes anything it doesn’t consider important that it didn’t drop already. Writing names down does not work for me as a long term solution, but it can be helpful in a short window.
I tried literally every possible approach over decades and nothing sticks for names of people I don’t interact with often. Sometimes my brain does remember a few people’s names, but I have no control over when it works and when it doesn’t.
My favorite thing at work is our photo directory! It lets me see the person to connect my memories to their name in an email or meeting roster because I remember literally everything else about a person except their name when it is relevant. My brain just doesn’t consider names to be important I guess.
in the modern world, they are most often not. in some spiritual traditions, names actually mean something. each name has a unique meaning attached to it, that describes the person or some aspect of their character.
There’s the kiki/boba effect for it.