Nombre y propialidad

Common nouns and proper nouns have different ways of signifying. Common nouns signify semantically –they have intension–, while proper nouns signify onymically. Properhood consists of identifying for the interlocutor an entity that bears a certain name. Even though all proper nouns have this onymic way of signifying, only some of them refer. There are modified proper nouns that, while their meaning may be explained only by the identification of one particular entity (for example, Miley Cyrus in X does a Miley Cyrus), they are not expressions that refer. In addition, there are verbs with properhood (for example, madrileñear –‘to do the special thing the people of Madrid do’–) which obviously lack reference. In short, nouns with properhood identify, but they do not necessarily refer.