What Do You Call Someone With a Good Memory?

If you’re looking for how to describe someone with a good memory, then look no further! In this article, we provide a list of useful terms that describe a person with elephant-like abilities.

Moreover, we’ll explain a few favorites from our list and give you examples using each, so read on!

Words for Someone With a Good Memory

  • Retentive
  • Memorious
  • Mnemonist
  • Eidetic
  • Recollective
  • Attentive
  • Tenacious
  • Mindful
  • Thoughtful
  • Enduring

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • If a person remembers things well, you can say they have a “retentive” memory.
  • You can call someone with an excellent memory a “mnemonist” as well.
  • You can use the word “memorious” to compliment someone with a good memory, although this term is not well known.

Keep reading to learn more about the meaning behind our favorite synonyms for someone with a good memory. We’ll even provide some example sentences using each alternative!

Retentive

If you’re looking for a word for someone who remembers things to a very impressive degree, a popular choice is “retentive.”

Firstly, Merriam-Webster defines “retentive” as “having the power, property, or capacity of retaining knowledge easily.”

Therefore, when someone has no problem remembering facts, dates, or other information, you can call them “retentive.” Moreover, “retentive” can be used as another word for “good memory.”

Secondly, the word “retentive” is very tonally neutral. It can be used to describe a person factually and doesn’t really have any positive or negative connotations.

In other words, it is not a compliment so much as a simple observation.

Nonetheless, if you want to see this term in action, consider the example sentences below:

Boikanyo is very retentive when it comes to historical facts, so we’ve tried to convince her to go on a quiz show!

Klaus has a very retentive memory, but only for the song lyrics of niche Nordic metal bands.

Mnemonist

A “mnemonist” is someone with a great memory. In fact, the Collins dictionary defines this phrase, quite literally, as “a person who has exceptional memory.”

More accurately, “mnemonist” is a word to describe someone who is very skilled at using mnemonic devices to retain and recall things. A mnemonic device is a learning technique that helps you create pathways in your brain.

In school, your teacher may have used a song, an acronym, or a poem to help you retain certain information. That would be a mnemonic device!

Therefore, if you became especially good at using mnemonic devices to retain things, you could call yourself a “mnemonist.”

Finally, to see this term in action, let’s look at a couple of example sentences:

A skilled mnemonist, Huxley was able to recall the names and birthdays of all 72 of his grandchildren.

Being a mnemonist had its limitations – in this line of work, it’s about knowing how to use facts to further your argument rather than simply being able to recall them.

Memorious

If you’re looking for what to call someone who remembers everything, we would recommend the word “memorious.”

To be clear, “memorious” is certainly a real word. In fact, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, it dates back to the 1590s and means “having a good memory.”

However, it is not a very well-known term, and you can’t find it in most popular English dictionaries. Therefore, we would recommend using this word with caution since many English speakers may never have heard of it.

Nonetheless, just because this word isn’t popular doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be. Moreover, the best way to bring it into the mainstream is for more people to learn about it.

Therefore, let’s see a few examples making use of this term so that we can work together in bringing it back into the public vocabulary:

Daniel isn’t our best public speaker, but he’s highly memorious and he will be a real help to the team if they are given an unfamiliar or complicated topic.

If humans were more memorious, there’d never be another war.