Empty name

The problem of empty names is notoriously difficult. Proper names seem to have no descriptive[?] content. They tell us the identity of their bearer, without telling us anything else about it. So how can such a name be empty? How can it identify anything, without there being anything to identify?

Some attempts at solving the puzzle

(1) Proper names do carry some descriptive content. The difficulty is to say what this content is. Any object that fitted the description, might cease to fit it - and we could even say so, using the name!

(2) Proper names always name something. Therefore fictional objects[?] of some sort exist. The difficulty with this is obvious.

(3) Empty proper names, have strictly speaking, no meaning. The difficulty here is also obvious. Empty names do appear to be meaningful. Indeed, it is impossible, on the face of it, to distinguish an name that is empty from one that is not.