I have a question.

Is memorizing names of chess openings will help me improve my games?

It depends alot on your current understanding of the game.

But if you have to ask there are probably alot of things to study that would help you more.

In a word? No. Simply memorizing the moves of a certain opening might improve your RATING a tad, because you will not lose so many games in the opening.

However, it will not improve your #chess# at all, because your understanding of the game will still be the same. It is a better idea to find out what squares are supposed to be controlled for each opening, and then play hard to achieve that control. That way, the middlegames and endgames you enter might be of a higher quality.

I fear the previous posters misread your question.

Highly doubtful. Memorizing an opening is of limited value, memorizing its name does absolutely nothing for you. Well, it makes it maybe a bit easier to talk about it, but other than that it's a fairly superfluous detail.

The Latvian Gambit by any other name is just as crappy.

Yes. But we have all memorized the names of the openings. It is something that a player can't get by without. It is part of the basic knowledge that a person learns when he/she starts to play chess. That said, it will not improve play at all. But it is a sort of stepping stone. Memorizing some basics about chass is a start. There are lots of players that know a great deal about the game but who still suck. Making use fo knowledge and studying in the right way is an art.

Also, it helps for identifying an opening without either memorizing the notation or going through move by move. And makes for easier conversations.

That being said, a conversation about chess is pretty useless outside a chess club or tourney.