In the Qur’an, the one God makes himself known through multiple names which express God's attributes. More than the attributes, it is the divine names which have inspired theological and philosophical reflections within Islam, among others by the Soufi Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 1240) and, in his footsteps, among Imami Shī’is. This article analyses the doctrine set forth by gnostic Shī’is between the 14^th and the 17^th cent. (8^th-11^th cent. anno Hegirae). Relying on a complex taxonomic and hierarchical system, they developed the idea of a theophany of divine names in order to account for the world, for what lies beyond it, and for human beings, before converging with Shī’i imamology through the idea of the perfect Man as manifestation of the supreme Name.