 Names are standardly categorized as definite noun phrases (Mulkern 1996; Abbott 2002). They can occur with markers of definiteness, such as the definite article “the” in English (though in some languages, such as Samoan, proper names obligatorily occur with a special proprial article, distinguished from the ordinary definite article). Since definite descriptions also belong under the general head of definite noun phrases (along with pronouns and demonstratives), this evidence is used to support views on which names are a type of definite description (Sloat 1969; Larson &amp; Segal 1995: 354–355; Elbourne 2005), but is consistent with names forming their own species of definite.