Via Synesthesia.me

My name is Bernadette, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a particular kind of Synesthesia called Grapheme-color synesthesia. This means my brain “sees” letters and numbers as very specific colors.

For me, this happens the most with names. As a result, when I meet new people, I am terrible at remembering names. I hear the name, but my mind is distracted. In my head, I am calculating the number of letters in the name, and visualizing the colors of each letter. Your name may be Emily, but to me, you’re a bright, happy swath of five letters with an “E” and an “I”. When I meet you again later, I may think your name is Emily or Jille or Ellie. Five letters, with an “I” and an “e.”

I’ve launched this project to document this phenomenon, and to share with you how I see your name. I hope you enjoy!