I actually used to learn names by associating the face with the faces of other people I knew with the same name. In the area I lived at the time, it wasn’t uncommon to know multiple people with the same given name, so this helped quite often. Now I live in an area where there is very little overlap, and my brain seems to have fully abandoned that approach, even when I meet someone sharing a name with someone I know.

Thankfully, hearing someone’s given name often jolts my memory and I suddenly remember the full name. That’s at least somewhat redeeming after the initial awkwardness.