A method and apparatus for identifying a caller who does not provide caller identification on an unanswered call. The caller is asked to record his/her name (or some other characteristic utterance). If the call is unanswered, the record is retained and can be accessed by the called party when that party requests his/her stored voice mail. Advantageously, even on unanswered calls, the identity of the caller can be presented to the called party when that called party requests stored voice mail messages, even if the calling party has private service.