Originally Posted by KnittingMama
He recognizes his close friends and family, but not people he sees infrequently (but frequently enough that he *should* recognize them). But he also can't remember names very well, so it's hard to know if he doesn't recognize the face or remember the associated name, or perhaps both.
This sounds like more of a global retrieval deficit, since it's not restricted to faces. Close friends and family are overlearned, and replete with context cues, which is probably why he can recognize them.

...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...