Yesterday I was out shopping and I spotted a familiar face, that of a mom of a classmate of my oldest son (who will be 36 in a couple of months) so I said hello and completely, totally referenced knowing her other son instead!!! It hit me like a bolt out of the blue that oh my gosh, his name was James not Michael!!! Michael is her other son, 2 years younger. LOL. I messaged her on FB to clarify. She said back that Michael was over for dinner and didn’t remember my son! No wonder. I could see the kid’s face but the total wrong name came out. I have no idea why as I didn’t know Michael other than that he was James’s brother. What the heck??? 8-}
Don’t feel guilty. We are old people who cannot remember a lot of things in our past.
If I was embarrassed to blushing every time I forgot a person’s name I’d be forever red. If I get it wrong, I just apologize sincerely and figure they can take or leave the apology! When your kids go to school with families with multiple children, your memory knows of “James, Michael, etc.” but might not get them in the correct order!!
No biggie. 
Not to mention that if these “kids” are about to turn 36, it might be 18 or so years since you last saw the kid whose name you didn’t remember.
Reminds me of something that happened several years ago. My parents were attending a party honoring a couple they were friends with and I mentioned that I knew the couple’s S and to tell him “hi”. Later my Dad told me he had talked with the friends S and he had no idea who I was. I was a little puzzled (as the S and I had actually been fairly good friends in HS) until my brother told me that the couple had 3 sons. Oh.
We keep getting cards from people who knew my mom…she passed in January. Several people mentioned how we must have known how close they were to mom…ummm…actually my mom was one of these people who made everyone feel special. None of us even know a few of these people. These thank you notes are getting awkward.
@VaBluebird, at least you didn’t reference a daughter:) Seriously, I see no need to be embarrassed. As coolweather said, we are getting older and these things happen.
@VaBluebird, I’m sure the other mom thought nothing of it except that it was a rather humorous mistake - and, if it had been me, I would have been delighted to be recognized, even if the wrong son’s name was attached. Why didn’t they tell us Boomers that we might not look the same as moms of 36 year olds as we did when we were moms of 18 year olds???
Here’s a real embarrassing wrong name story. I knew a school director who was absolutely tops in the field. The school heard through the grapevine of the tragic early death (cancer) of the son of a family who had moved away from the area. Being the caring, thoughtful person the director truly was, she sent a heartfelt sympathy note with nice personal memories of the child and his parents. Unfortunately, she used the name of the parents’ other son, who was still alive and grieving with the rest of the family. That was a hard mistake to rectify.
I’m always getting the kid’s name mixed up with the parent’s! I just try not to use names at all, ha! It’s safer that way.
She was probably flattered that you remembered one of her son’s names.
I have a much younger sister. For the life of me, I can’t keep her name and my daughter’s name straight. There’s a weird wire crossed in my brain. It drives my brother-in-law insane when I keep telling him what A. is up to when A. Is his wife, and the stories I’m telling him actually involve B. (my daughter). Now THAT’s embarassing.
As someone who’s been known to call my own son by my sister’s name, I don’t think you have a problem.
^ have you ever called your kid by the dog’s /cat’s name? I have.
"have you ever called your kid by the dog’s /cat’s name? I have. "
All the time (even though the dogs are girls, and I have boys). The kids don’t mind, however, when I try to scratch them behind their ears, they get a little irritated. 
The other day, my Dad asked me, “What’s your middle name, again?” It’s the same middle name as his mothers.
“actually my mom was one of these people who made everyone feel special.” @eyemamom Your mother sounds like she was a wonderful person.
@nottelling I do the same thing sometimes, calling my younger sister by my daughter’s name (never the other way around though). I feel kind of guilty about it as I think it reflects a subconscious belief that we are not on a equal footing and I still regard her as my “little” sister even when we are both in our 50s.
I have an atrocious memory for names. Just always have. When I first started dating my now-spouse, I used to joke that it was because he and my best friend have the same name (so I’d be much less likely to forget it). These two (the best friend and the spouse) also happened to be born two days apart and it’s only recently that I’ve begun to remember which is which.
I get called my mom’s, sister’s, and pets’ names before mine by my dad. I’ll occasionally get called even dead pets’ names before my own.
I wouldn’t feel bad about mixing up the sons’ names at all.
I also mix up the names of my younger sister and my daughter. Must be a thing. I think it’s because my sister is the little girl I grew up with, so it just transferred. Both are very tolerant of it.
We were enjoying a Super Bowl party a few years ago when we realized we didn’t know anyone there. Once we figured out that we actually were supposed to be next door, we quietly slipped out the back! Still, it was a nice party while it lasted.
^^^ Now THAT is funny
I was visiting friends at Yale and saw a woman I knew at Harvard, so I said “Hi ____”. She laughed and said you must know my twin. I didn’t even know my acquaintance had a twin.
Seriously, I am so bad with names, for many reasons, that I rarely ever say someone’s names when speaking to them anymore. More " how are youuuuuu" with a smile.