A system for automatically tagging a digital image includes an electronic device having a face detector for receiving a digital image and determining whether the digital image contains at least one face. A faceprint generator generates a faceprint representing a face detected in the digital image. A matching operation attempts to match the faceprint to a reference data item to identify the face represented by the faceprint. If a match is found, a tag generator generates a text tag corresponding to the identity of the face represented by the faceprint, and may associate the tag with the digital image. If a match is not found, the faceprint may be transmitted with an identification request to an external electronic device, which performs the matching operation. Upon matching the faceprint to a reference data item, identification data identifying the face represented by the faceprint may be transmitted from the external electronic device to the originating electronic device. A text tag may then be generated based on the identification data.