Evolution of perception of proper names in western culture

In the authors of article analyze the evolution of linguistic and philosophical conceptions concerning the nature of a name. These conceptions were put forward by the outstanding foreign philosophers and linguists such as F. de Sossure, A.G. Gardiner, O. Esperson, J.S. Mill, G. Bertelson, and others. In a short, capacious form the authors of the article have managed to set forth the main ideas of the listed linguists and philosophers and conclude that although neither theory gives a definite, accurate and sound answer to the problem what the proper name was and is and how it should be studied, onomastics is, nevertheless, developing in the writer direction.