Existing models of proper name semantics provide for separate stores for proper name information and common semantic information. Using the HAL model of memory, we show that a common meaning space can accommodate both proper names, famous proper names and common nouns. In HAL, retrieval difficulty for proper names is due to a denser semantic space for names than common nouns and an error will result in the retrieval of a very different concept than intended. These representational results suggest that name retrieval difficulty lies at the level of processing rather than storage.