My brain has one job when someone tells me their name and it just never does it.

I'm terrible at this too and always fear folks find me terribly rude.

One trick I've heard people share is to repeat the person's name immediately and then use it a few times in the conversation. That apparently helps you learn it.

@nelson @jkottke I did that exactly once and the result was that I—to my estimation—sounded like a lunatic. But maybe that's better than immediately forgetting people's names?