when we call the same being by the name, 'John,' we do not mean to
indicate the presence of any Johannine attributes. We simply wish to
distinguish that being, in thought and language, from other beings of
the same kind. Roughly speaking, therefore, proper names are devoid of
meaning or intension. But no name can be entirely devoid of
meaning. For, even setting aside the fact, which is not universally
true, that proper names indicate the sex of the owner, the mere act of
giving a name to a thing implies at least that the thing exists,
whether in fact or thought; it implies what we may call 'thinghood':
so that every term must carry with it some small amount of intension.

161. From another point of view, however, proper names possess more
intension than any other terms. For when we know a person, his name
calls up to our minds all the individual attributes with which we are
familiar, and these must be far more numerous than the attributes
which are conveyed by any common term which can be applied to
him. Thus the name 'John' means more to a person who knows him than
'attorney,' 'conservative,' 'scamp,' of 'vestry-man,' or any other
term which may happen to apply to him. This, however, is the acquired
intension of a term, and must be distinguished from the original
intension. The name 'John' was never meant to indicate the attributes
which its owner has, as a matter of fact, developed. He would be John
all the same, if he were none of these.

162. Hitherto we have been speaking only of christening-names, but
it is evident that family names have a certain amount of connotation
from the first. For when we dub John with the additional appellation
of Smith, we do not give this second name as a mere individual mark,
but intend thereby to indicate a relationship to other persons. The
amount of connotation that can be conveyed by proper names is very