There are 12 pairs of cranial nerves. They arise from their nuclei in brain cortex and brain stem. They supply motor fibers and bring sensory fibers from head and neck except few exceptions.

The names of most of these cranial nerves are related to their function and that makes it easy to learn their names. But it is difficult to learn their names in sequence. For that you would need mnemonic which would help you to learn all the names of 12 cranial nerves easily.

Here are the names of all the 12 cranial nerves:

Names of 12 Cranial nerves:

1. Olfactory
2. Optic
3. Oculomotor
4. Trochlear
5. Trigeminal
6. Abducens
7. Facial
8. Vetibulocochlear
9. Glossopharyngeal
10. Vagus
11. Accessory
12. Hypoglossal

You can learn more about the anatomy and functions of these nerves here.

Cranial Nerves Mnemonic:

Want to learn the names of about cranial nerves in order? Yes, then you would need a mnemonic. A mnemonic that i am going to mention here would help you to learn names of cranial nerves in just few minutes. And believe me, after learn the mnemonic, you would never forget any cranial nerve name.

I have wasted a lot of time to learn these nerves in order but would forget all the names after some time. But after learning this mnemonic, i remember all the cranial nerves names till date. And you can do so. Just learn the mnemonic for cranial nerves below:

One Of Our Trend Teacher Asked For Very Good Van At Hospital

Take the starting letter of every word like this:

• One for Olfactory nerve.
• Of for optic nerve.
• Our for oculomotor nerve.
• Trend for Trochlear nerve.
• Teacher for trigeminal nerve.
• Asked for abducens nerve.
• FOR for facial nerve.
• Very for vestibulocochlear nerve.
• Good for glossophyrngeal nerve.
• VAN for vagus nerve
• AT for accessory nerve
• HOSPITAL for hypoglossal nerve.

As you can see, learning these name this way is very much easy as compared to learning them without any mnemonic. The one mentioned above is the best one. Here are some more mnemonics.

Cranial nerves mnemonic for names in order:

• On old Olympus towering top a Fin and German viewed some hops.
• Ooh, ooh, ooh to touch and feel very good velvet. Such heaven.
• Oh, Oh, Oh, To Take A Family Vacation! Go Vegas And Hardees

Mnemonic for functions of cranial nerves:

Here are some more mnemonic that would help you to learn whether a sensory nerve carries sensory, motor or both types of fibers:

• Some say marry money but my brother says big brains matter more.

These are some of the mnemonic to learn the names and functions of cranial nerves. If you know about some other mnemonics, let us know in the comments section below.