Child has trouble remembering names at camps — unique to him?

Hard to say. My kids (now 14 & 16) have gone to lots of camps and the ice breaker activities vary wildly. If your question is rooted in, is something wrong with my child, as a fellow parent, I'd say this is not a very strong data point. If your question is broadly, what camps might this be less of a problem or concern with... then definitely look for longer session camps, smaller camps, camps where they can stay for multiple sessions and form better relationships with the staff, or camps held at a site they already spend time at (like an aftercare program or their school). 

I won't say it's a "biggest regret" but I certainly do regret signing my kids up for tons of different weekly sessions and moving them around every week to experience all sorts of camps that I thought were cool or unique or whatever. They would have been much better off with steadier experiences in the elementary years, and I wish I hadn't even started summer camps until age 7 or so (hiring babysitters or nannies for the 5-6 ages). Some introverted personalities (with yes, executive function deficiencies) just do better with more mellow times and I didn't see that as clearly back then. 

My kiddo went to lots of weekly camps at that age. I guess it didn’t occur to me that remembering names was important. I’m remembering that when there was another child that she had a strong connection with the two of them would approach us parents at pick-up declaring that they wanted a play date. My dd is quite neuro-spicy. She just finished her junior year of HS and she’s just starting to be good with names. 
She could be difficult to get along with so more new groups with “fresh” friends and counselors worked well then. She had plenty of consistency and long-term relationships in other areas of her life. 

Oh, I hope you're not worried. I'm a highly functioning adult who went to Sunday school with the same group of kids my entire childhood and I never remembered their names because I only saw them once a week. Last night I was at a school event with my TK daughter and she was playing with a kid whom she's been in class with all year and it turns out knew her by the wrong name. 

I'm an introvert who presents as an extrovert, and have ADHD...either one of those things could explain why I'm bad with names and faces--my brain is too busy scanning and preparing all the time--but this is nothing crippling and I'm fine. Also, I just doubt it comes up very much at camp that one needs to identify someone else by their name. As long as everyone's having a good time! I'm sure your kid is saving that brain space for more fun stuff.

If this isn't common then I am also in trouble :). My daughter (same age) with no executive function impairment never knows these campers names either. They will literally say hello [name] to her, and she will have no idea what their name is. But she's very friendly and plays with everyone. I think she's just oblivious and "friend" is enough context for her! 

Hi there - just fwiw, my son is neurotypical and is now a young adult at UCLA with a great GPA and many friends, so he's doing fine in life. At 7-8-9-10 and even beyond he barely remembered people's names at camps. Maybe 1 special friend, maybe 1 special counselor, but in general that info would have eluded him. No chance would he have ever known someone's surname - I'd say there were buddies in HS whose last name he never knew! I suspect it's just a kid thing. Set a fun challenge for him each week where he tells you a funny thing on Monday, a time he was brave on Tuesday, a time someone was kind on Wednesday, and a kid's name on Thursday, etc. Make it a game and don't act shocked if he can't remember. 

I don’t think this is super way out of the norm. I’ve helped out in my kid’s library for the past two years. Some kids know who I am and my name. A few kids are still asking me who I am at the end of the year. And I always had kids asking me my name when I taught and managed camps back in the day.

My two additional thoughts would be: Is this something that you notice with school/aftercare as well, or specific to short-term summer camps?

And, having worked at summer camps for all those years: this is good feedback for a camp. Either in advance, when you register and fill out intake forms, or during the camp week itself. Something along the lines of: 

• it takes your child a good bit of reinforcement to learn names. Do counselors wear name tags? Can they be sure to remind campers of their names each morning/class? Are there ice breaker games on the first day or two? 

  Some camps will be really responsive to this sort of feedback. Others won’t. But it can’t hurt to give info to the camp to hopefully improve the experience for your kid, and probably others as well.