what do you do when you see people that you should know but you forgot their names?

It is embarrassing. Sometimes I am honest and tell them I forgot their name, and other times I just talk. Lol!

I kind of feel embarrassed to ask their names and so just try to get the conversation going?

Since I still live in the town that I grew up in, sometimes I'll run into friends from back in my high school days that I haven't seen in years. I graduated high school way back in 1997. So if I see someone I used to go to school with and they know who I am, I may not recognize them right way since they look different that they did twenty years ago. So if they say "Hey, Mike, how have you been?" I just ask them what their name is. And when they tell me their name, then I'll realize who they are, and I'll typically say, "Hey I remember you! How have you been?"

That happens to me quite often anymore, sometimes I wait and see if someone says it

I try to make conversation even though I don't remember the name but I pretend I know.

I was never good with remembering people's names. It is embarrassing when you meet someone and they look very familiar and they are talking to you like a long lost friend and you're just staring at them thinking; "Who are you?" :-P

I will just smile.