In Persian, the usual word for “pen-name” or “poetic pseudonym” was not always associated with the meaning it has come to take on almost exclusively today. While resort to the final “signature verse” was common practice among lyric poets, it is not until the 15th century that literature specialists came to register the taxalloṣ under this heading. Instead, medieval Persian scholars of balāġa referred it back to its original definition in Arabic rhetoric. Hence, taxalloṣ was understood as the “transition” between the introductory part of the qaṣīda and the panegyric proper. Yet, the Persian usage of the poetic pen-name may well have retained something of this earlier meaning: from the Arabic root xalaṣa, taxalloṣ denotes the act of “escaping” or “finding an exit.” The very location of the signature verse alerts us to this fact: in the classical Persian ġazal, the poet’s name heralds the end of the poem. To name oneself, in this case, is not merely courteously to take leave; it is the gesture by which the poet seals the formal completion of his composition. However, this synoptic feature is not the privilege of the poet’s name alone. According to medieval Persian specialists of balāġa, other names cited in the ġazal or in the qaṣīda – the name of the patron, or even, of some illustrious character – may lay claim to a similar closure effect. This paper will focus, accordingly, not so much on the notion of the lyric speaker, as on the name as a device, and on the act of naming in classical Persian lyric poetry in a broader sense.