word choice - Is it correct to say "What was your name?"?


Is it correct to say "What was your name?"? The reason I am asking this is, generally the name of the person will not change. One should say "What is your name?"


http://variationsonnormal.com/2010/05/26/sorry-what-was-your-name-again/



Answer



The question is in the past tense because the person forgot the other person's name. Notice that he actually wrote "Sorry, what was your name again?". It means "You've already told me your name, but I can't remember what it is. Can you repeat?" and not that the name may have changed. If the person used the present tense (i.e. "What is your name?"), it would not have been clear that he knew that he had already asked that before.


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