Raise your hand if you happen to be stopped on the street, talk and ask for 2-3 minutes and you do not have the slightest idea what his name was, but you looked like a face. In fact, when you are not sure, it is better not to call him at all than to confuse his name.
If you do not remember the names, at least remember these simple techniques to apply whenever you meet someone not very close or completely new:
Do not consider any name as simple to remember
It may seem strange, but most of the problems people have with names come from the tendency to assume that we can easily recall information. A very simple example is when in school times we often did not keep notes with the idea that what was being written and explained on the board was simple to remember. In fact it is the opposite and the same thing happens with names. You have to understand that names are hard to remember and so the brain will "try" a little harder to fix them.
Use the person's name several times in the conversation
This is one of the most powerful techniques and the easiest way to do this is to change the response when greeting someone, mentioning their name often (without overdoing it of course). When you say the name of the person out loud, it forces the brain to interact with the information in a new way. If you're not sure when to use someone else's name in the conversation, at least use it when greeting to share, because this is also a good opportunity to ask the person to remember your name at the moment if you forgot.
Associate the person's name with something similar (other person, object, phenomenon)
For example, if you meet someone named "Donald" you will certainly find it super simple to connect with someone else from that moment. If someone else is called "Besart", for example, who at that moment connects with "besa" and "art", and so on, so that next time it will be easier for you to remember many names.
