What was his name?

In groups with people around my age, we spend many minutes with one or more heads tilted back, looking upward with raised eyes.  That is a typical posture of an older person, trying to remember.   The elusive item is often a name.  What was the name of that theorist?  This morning, Lynn asked me about the little dogs that were often in photos of Queen Elizabeth.  She said the elusive breed name began with the letter "C".

Sometimes, every one waits while the recaller tries to recall something he knows he used to know but the name will not come to mind.  If others try to say the elusive name but fail, the names spoken may be a distraction that lessens the probability of recall. On the other hand, if the other members of the group just wait in polite silence, the awkward moment can cause the forgetter to be embarrassed, lessening the probability of satisfying recall.