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{{Quote|A word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the fire itself.|Elodin}}
'''Naming''' is the art of determining the true essence of a thing. Naming cannot be done by a normal human mind; it can only be done through the '''Sleeping Mind''', which [[Elodin]] says humans use every day for reflexes such as catching {{Ref|TWMF|12}}. Traditionally, [[arcanist|arcanists]] at [[the University]] studied naming {{Ref|TWMF|42}}; however nowadays it is extremely rare for people to know more than one or two names. 
==Common Names==
Common names are names of simple materials, such as stone ([[Fela]]), wind ([[Kvothe]]), iron ([[Devan Lochees]] and [[Inyssa]]). However, even these names are extremely potent and extremely difficult to call: the name of the wind can stop the wind or start a thunderstorm {{Ref|TWMF|146}}. And to even call the name of stone, the arcanist needs to know everything possible about how the world can affect it: "how the light reflects from it, how the wind cups it as it moves through the air, how the traces of its iron will feel the calling of a [[loden-stone]]" {{Ref|TWMF|42}}.
==Names of Sentient Beings== 
The name of a person is much more difficult to call because people shape their names by simply being alive.
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