i read the books before watching the show, and mostly i did the same thing i do whenever i read/watch things, which is, i have ~no idea~ what anyone's name is until i've probably almost finished the thing haha. i'm just really bad at names so i don't even bother trying to learn them. if there are a ton of characters then i just try to figure out who's who in each scene from context clues and their personality and stuff.