Main task of this chapter is to distinguish Ovid from the poet-lover of the collection, drawing a sharp line between the poet in the collection and the author of the collection. Offers theoretical reflections on Ovid’s deployment of proper names (fictional names, pseudonyms, “real” Roman names); reads the elegy for Tibullu, as a model for the fictional reduction of Ovid to Naso; and addresses poems that challenge this argument (e.g. the poem featuring Ovid’s wife), showing that even these can be seen to serve the interests of Naso, the fictional character inside the collection. Key poems: Amores 1.1, 2.18, 3.9, 3.13.