"Auto-incorrect."

I have memory issues, primarily where names are concerned. To compensate for this, my brain overrides logic, common sense, and the truth with a peculiar habit. Whenever someone new introduces themselves, and I forget their name, my brain replaces their actual name with a handle of its choice. One that it ultimately decide fits that person best.
"Sure you told me your name was Judy five times. But we're still gonna call you Laura. You look more like a Laura." It's rather embarrassing. It comes off as uncaring.

I suspect that somewhere in my head there is an index of faces. When I meet someone, my mind involuntarily races through those files to see if this stranger's face matches its idea of the name. If it determines it does not, it automatically renames the person.
"You don't look like a Paul. You look more like a Jason, that's what we'll call you from now on. Poor "Jason" then has to remind me repeatedly of his actual name to retrain my thinking.

It gets worse. If I meet someone with the name of a person I previously knew, the new person will likely have to have a hint of the familiar, inexplicable characteristics I've come to associate with that name. It's an easier mental transition. Otherwise it throws me off.  So, if I knew a Susan who was blond, short, and overweight, and you happen to be a Susan who is tall, black and fit, That's probably not gonna go well. I'll just call you "Tina."
Once, I met two ladies in a new group. We'll call them Jill and Sophie. Unfortunately, I had previously known both a Jill and a Sophie. The Jill from the new group looked and acted more like the Sophie from the old group. Likewise, the Sophie from the new group looked, and acted more like the Jill from the old group. I switched their names immediately. I called Jill Sophie and Sophie Jill based solely on my past experiences with those names. Both assume I was struggling to keep their names straight. Nope! I was struggling to keep their identities separate from the identities of the people I knew with those names prior to meeting them.
Since I'm confessing, I might as well also tell you I have come to dislike certain names based on previous interactions with people of those names.
If your name is Lynden, I apologize in advance. It's gonna be a struggle to give you the benefit of the doubt. On the whole. I love the names Tina, Joan, Danielle, Crystal, Sarah, etc. They have been associated with good people in my life.

By now you are probably seeing this for the utter foolishness it is. Assessing people based on their names is about as deep as water in a saucer. The same can be said of  the assumptions we make of people before getting to know them. We distrust folks because they might look a certain way, be of a different economic status, size, beauty, culture or color. We assume and presume we know who they are. We assert our presumptions and assumptions as their identity. It's sad, and harmful. We need to let the actions of individuals speak for themselves.

Even when actions do speak, don't conclude to know a person based on a few actions or interactions. I remember being nervous in situations, and acting like an utter buffoon because of it. Judge me in those moments, and you'd be wrong, because you didn't actually see the real me. I'm just saying give folks more of a chance than google gives us when filling in a search. Don't assume because we see how someone began, we know where they are going, and we automatically know how they will end. Interactions with humans requires patience. That is why God is patient with us. It is why patience is a fruit or manifestation of the Spirit. We need it in order to survive each other. While we are on the topic of fruit, the bible says you'll "know them by their fruits." Please allow people to produce a couple before you judge resolutely. Don't assume you are automatically correct. You might just be "auto-incorrect."

Often, while I'm typing something into a search engine, and before I've even entered a complete word, there are already suggestions about where I should go. Sometimes I follow them, even though they had nothing to do with why I originally came. I set purpose aside, and rabbit trail. The very prompt of a new idea, causes me to entertain a new course. Changing the search, changes the mission.
A similar thing happens when my phone autocorrects a word. The meaning shifts, as does the weight, and emotion behind the message. This is why we must guard our input into the lives of others. Don't suggest an identity for folks that's not theirs. Don't call them anything that God hasn't. Don't be a part of misleading them down paths they never intended to go. Don't be a catalyst to their wandering or shift.  Perhaps you are thinking, "What does this have to do with me? These things are entirely up to the individual." I agree. Somewhat.

Studies have shown that speaking over plants positively, or negatively impacts their growth. The same is true of humans. Words give or take life. Be careful with the ones you use. Have a pure heart, and only speak the truth in love when you speak into the hearts and lives of people. It takes a lot of time and energy to live independent of the labels we are assigned. "The wise one. The pretty one. The strong one. The funny one. The smart one." I think we do this because it is easy. Unfortunately, it is the laziest approach to "knowing" someone. Assessing only by the eyes, and what is obvious is a disservice. It requires no significant investment of effort, time, love or patience. Even when what we see is true, "the creative one" is creative, "the angry one" is angry, there is still so much more we do not see.
And, what we are seeing is actually the end result of what we can't see. The heart. The visual is the most elementary step into relationship. Go beyond it. When Jesus said "you will know them by their fruit," He said so because He was telling us to use the fruit to determine the nature of the tree. He didn't say it because the fruit was all he wanted us to see.  He simply wanted us to know the source of the fruit, the tree.
The fruit is the end result of the planted seed. Much like the heart, the seed is overshadowed by what grows out of it. It's hard to see the origins of either, but major disruptions result above the surface of the ground in which the seed is planted, and the heart in which words take root. Much like seeds, we have a heart that produces outwardly. They earn us the labels. And even when those labels are all true, there is still an origin, a root cause that often goes unnoticed. I'm saying, notice. Sure, look at the fruit, but realize you aren't looking at the fruit to stay there. Look closer. You are looking at the fruit to make an assessment of the tree. Where did it come from? It's the why, and the rest of the story behind the fruit you do see. Don't focus exclusively on the end product, shift your gaze, and prayer to what's behind it. Our problem isn't the fruit as conveniently as it is to be seen, and blamed. It is the seed, the tree it produced as a result. Use the fruit to know the tree.

At the very least, we can learn to appreciate others in a more well rounded way. Let's go a little deeper than the surface. That "quiet one" might be quiet, or "the confident one" might be confident, but that's probably not all they are. They may shock you with who they really are, if given a chance to finish their search, and show you.
We are all the wisdom of God and a work in progress. Let's appreciate those things we see in others, but let's just wait to see what else the creator is doing in their lives, and hearts. He refines and defines. Our role is simply to agree with perfection. Let's not hold our opinions about His work, higher than the truth of His power to transform. Instead of locking others into a label, or assigning titles, just call them by their names. Hopefully, you remember what it is.