My daughter, Alyssa, just turned two years old in November. We did MANY name recognition activities before her 2nd birthday. Here are a few activities that we tried with success.

These two pictures are of Alyssa using large, colorful foam letters
from Hobby Lobby to spell out her name. This was the first time that she spelled her name without any assistance at all. She found the foam pieces on her own and sang the name song as she spelled it. Please excuse the "junk" in the photos.

Alyssa was playing with her birthday gift (a name puzzle) from onestepahead.com.

We have also used A-Z pony beads to spell out her name (with supervision of course).

Alyssa spells out her name using magnetic letters from Lakeshore Learning and letter tiles from Walmart (they are not available there anymore but check Office Depot or Office Max). She matches the letters in her name at the top and spells it on her own at the bottom.

Pocket Chart Name

Alyssa spelling her name using a pocket chart and the letters in her name.  I wrote her name on the sentence strip and cut it apart (letter by letter).  I scrambled them up and Alyssa would practice spelling her name. 

Name Train 

(Market Days in New Braunfels, Texas)

Melissa and Doug Beads

Playdoh Stamper Name

Alyssa used Playdoh stampers to spell out her name.

Mitten Name Match Game

The mitten printable came from Childcareland.com.

We have also used Wikki sticks, alphabet building blocks, Playdoh, sand writing, shaving cream, pudding, gel bags, letter bean bags, tub letters, all types of alphabet puzzle pieces (large, small, foam, wooden, etc), nesting blocks (2 sets), and foam alphabet stickers for name recognition activities. 

I am sure that I will think of more that we have done later.

Result: Alyssa was able to spell her name verbally and/or with letter objects before she turned two.