The proper names of most characters in Shakespeare's plays usually pose problems in translation. Shakespeare often uses certain proper names or nicknames that foster puns or plays on words, which render their translation into Spanish even more difficult. The aim of this paper is to offer an analysis on the proper names that appear in Henry IV. The reason to choose these plays lies in that they offer a rich and varied group of characters whose ironic, humorous or despising names pose a real challenge for the Spanish translator. With regard to the translations chosen, they were those by Shakespeare's most important Spanish translators: Guillermo Macpherson (1897), Luis Astrana (1929) and José María Valverde (1969). The author’s analysis determines the translation techniques Macphershon, Astrana and Valverde resort to when rendering the characters' proper names. In a similar way, the study establishes whether these techniques allow the Spanish reader to perceive the irony and humour underlying most names in Henry IV.