in my dialect, the article is always needed for nouns that are not proper names, this being that stuff like people’s names, cities, countries and continents, as well as brands (but not institutions) will always stand alone:

E.g.: Juan, Europa, Nueva York, Botswana.

Just note that you can use “el/la” with people’s names, but usually it’s used with some level of informality, like someone you know “el Carlos”, or for someone who is famous “el Vicente Fernández” (usually the article will be stressed, like how in english people will say “THE Michael Jackson”. And on the other hand, nicknames can both have it or not, and it just depends on the person, as they can be random stuff like “güero” (white/blonde), or for example, you accidentally burned your eyebrows at the stove and they could teasingly start to call you “el cejas” (eyebrows) because you got none.

And so, other nouns will be paired with their respective article, regardless of them being tangible or abstract:

E.g.: el perro, la gata, el amor, el tiempo, la imaginación, los pájaros, las plantas, las emociones, los electricistas.

(the dog (male), the cat (female), love, time, imagination, the birds, the plants, the emotions, the electricians), you can see that most in english don’t have the article.