How To Ask A Guy For His Name - 11 Ways To Find Out A Guy’s Name

Unless you’re Sheldon Cooper, we’ve all at some point or another, forgotten the name of a guy we’ve met before. Seeing as we don’t all possess an IQ of 187, it’s quite normal to be in a situation where we need to know how to ask a guy for his name. 

In addition to having forgotten the guy’s name, it could be that you were simply never told the name when you first spoke. Maybe the conversation was so good that you both neglected to ask for each other’s names. Or perhaps the timing wasn’t good enough to find out a name.

And of course, there’s the simple possibility that you might just be meeting the guy for the first time. You don’t have telepathic powers – if you do, please reach out to me – so you can’t be expected to know his name if he doesn’t tell you.

In all of the situations described, the solution is simple – you will have to ask him for his name, but no one says it has to be done directly. Yes, you can go the direct route, but if you don’t have the guts to do so, there are several other ways to find out the name of this son of Adam that you can take advantage of.

 Without further ado, here’s how to ask a guy for his name…

1. Honesty is the best policy 

You could be blunt and ask for his name while explaining that you didn’t mean to forget it. Feel free to come up with an excuse such as having a bad habit of forgetting names. 

Another way to go about this is to ask him what his name is while referring to what he was doing when you first met. This will show that you remember him even if you don’t know his name. I guarantee that this will reduce the awkwardness. An example of this method is saying something like, “Hey, last time we met, you presented a really good poem. Please remind me of your name.”

Knowing that he as a person was not forgotten will make him feel more at ease and comfortable enough to repeat his name. 

2. Use humor to ask  

Asking a guy for his name using humor is very effective because it makes him feel more comfortable. You could turn to jokes or funny stories from your past that show that you are terrible at remembering names.

Some of such jokes include:

• “I almost lost a friend once because I forgot their name. Had to take them out to get them to forgive me. If you tell me yours, I might take you out too.”
• “My parents gave me a lot of great genes, but they seemed to have forgotten the “remember people’s names” gene.”
• “If I was in a life or death situation and the only thing that could save me was remembering people’s names, I would say my last prayers there and then.” 

Using jokes and humor to ask a guy for a name is probably best when you like the guy. That way, if it comes across as flirting to him, it wouldn’t be far off the mark.

3. Introduce yourself first 

Finding out a guy’s name if you’ve never met him in person before is not complicated. You just have to introduce yourself to him and ask him what his name is.

You can also use this if you’ve met him before and forgot his name by slightly altering it. Instead of saying, “Hi, I’m Alia Atreides, what’s your name?” you could go with, “Hey, if you are as bad with names as I am, I’m Siona Atreides, please remind me of your name.”

This lets him know that you are interested in knowing who he is, even if you forgot the name the first time.

    If you need some help, here are some tips on How to Get Better at Talking to People.

4. Ask him to send his contacts 

If you need to ask a guy for his name, introduce a little deception by asking him to send you his contact details so you can save his name. Seeing as you don’t have his number saved, he will then send his name and number so that you know who sent you the message. 

And even if he doesn’t attach his name, there are apps like Truecaller, which can tell you a person’s name with just a contact number.

If you are in a more professional setting, asking about his name using this method can be done using an email message. Simply come up with a reason to get him to send you an email, and when he does, you will most likely see his name in his email address.

5. Stroke his ego 

How to find out a guy’s name 101 – tell him something that’ll make it seem like you didn’t ask for his name because you were focused on other things. 

One great way to do this is to stroke his ego by complimenting him and making him happy. This way, he wouldn’t even mind that you forgot his name and would readily offer it up.

For instance, you could say, “when we last met, I was so lost in the way you spoke that I forgot to ask for your name,” or “the conversation we had was so engrossing that it didn’t occur to me to find out your name.” 

Essentially, flattery will get you everywhere. 

6. Talk about kids making fun of people’s names 

Kids and teenagers are in the habit of making fun of each other’s names in middle and high schools, and you can take advantage of this. Initiate a conversation about how kids made fun of your name when you were growing up, and then ask the guy if he went through a similar thing.

If he did – hopefully he did – then chances are that he will mention his name while telling you what funny nickname students came up with, or at the very least, provide a very strong clue. 

However, if he doesn’t mention his name, you can feign ignorance by saying something along the lines of how you don’t see the relation between the nickname and his name. At the risk of him thinking you’re a little slow, he’ll probably mention his name as he tries to explain.

7. Ask him how he pronounces his last name 

So you’ve met a guy before, but you forgot his name, and now every time you see him, you keep wondering, “what is his name?” 

You could find this detail out from him by using the age-old “I suck at pronunciation” speech. Here’s how it goes: when you’re in the midst of a conversation, you randomly mention that you have a bad habit of pronouncing names and then ask him to pronounce his last name. You can really sell this by giving an example of a seemingly easy name you mispronounced, such as saying Angel-a instead of Angela. 

When he pronounces his last name, you then request that he says it all together because you’re curious to find out how the full name sounds when said right.

8. Get a friend to ask him 

You don’t have to ask about his name from the guy himself to find it out. If you’re too shy or not brave enough – like me and like a zillion others – you could get a friend to help you out.

You could explain the situation to a friend and encourage them to introduce themselves to the guy so that he does the same. You could also get a friend to come over and introduce themselves while you are talking to him. Hopefully, he’ll take the bait and introduce himself as well.

If he instead waits for you to introduce him, tell him with a humorous tone that you have a thing of wanting people to introduce themselves to avoid butchering their names. Your friend can help you out here by corroborating this claim and saying that you’ve been doing it for as long as they’ve known you. 

9. Ask him to request you on social media 

According to data from Statista, there are literally billions of people on social media, so why not use this to your advantage when there’s a guy, and you need to find out his name. 

You could tell the guy that you’re quite active on social media, so he should request you there. If in a professional setting, you can ask for a Linkedin connection which will definitely show you his name. Outside the office, you could use Facebook, which has a good chance of showing you his real name.

If he instead asks you to request him, you could then ask him for his full name or simply mention that your “request” feature has been acting up recently.

10. Ask him if he has a website or page you could check out  

Many people have their own websites these days, be it in the form of blogs or otherwise. This is especially true for creatives such as writers, artists, and musicians.

There will usually be clues to their names on these websites, such as in the “About” section or maybe a captioned picture of them.

Apart from websites, people can also have social media pages separate from their profiles. These pages will contain much of the same information found on personal websites.

11. Invite them to an event that needs registration 

Another entry on how to ask a guy for his name is to offer to go to an event with him. Several events come to mind for this, such as comedy shows, music concerts, and sports events.

You can then ask him for his full name to be able to reserve a ticket and viola, full name acquired. This is an effective method if you have been dating the guy because it allows you to kill two birds with one stone in that you get to find out his name and go on an exciting date night.

Frequently Asked Questions

 How do you politely ask someone’s name?

If you are meeting the person for the first time, you could introduce yourself and ask them for their name. A simple, “Hello, I’m Darby Shaw! What’s your name?” could suffice. 

If you’ve met the person before, however, and need to find out their name again, here are some things you can do:

• Tell them humorously that you have a bad habit of forgetting names and ask for thiers again. 
• Start the conversation by reminding them of the circumstances you last met under, before asking for their name. This shows that you forgot their name, not them.
• Tell them that you were so intrigued by them in your previous conversation, or you were quite distracted about something that you didn’t note their name. 

What is a cute way to ask a guy out?

Some cute ways to ask a guy out include:

• Sending a note that says you like him. 
• Texting him sweet messages that suggest you like him. 
• Ask him if he’d like to attend an event you have an ‘extra ticket’ for.
• Flirt with him often. 
• Get a friend to tell him that you’re interested – this might backfire if he likes your friend instead, so your friend should be of the opposite sexual orientation.
• Simply ask him out in a direct manner. 

Is it weird to ask a guy his last name?

The norm these days is that you shouldn’t ask for his last name just yet if you are going out with him. There are several reasons for this. The main one is that having the last name allows you to find the guy on the internet and draw conclusions on who he is before actually talking to him.

That being said, if finding out a guy’s last name before you go out with him makes you feel safer, then you should ask for it.

In Conclusion…

Lots of people forget the names of others, so you shouldn’t beat yourself up for doing so. What matters is finding out the guy’s name again and then storing it in a mind vault, so you don’t forget it again.

We hope the methods described above will be helpful to you in your quest to find out the name of this Xy chromosome carrying member of society and wish you good luck.