The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Lao Tzu begins his masterwork with a paradox: the ultimate reality cannot be captured in words or concepts. The Tao - the Way - exists beyond language, beyond naming, beyond conceptual understanding.
Yet we must use words to point toward it, like using a finger to point at the moon. The words are not the thing itself. This opening sets the tone for the entire text, reminding us that truth must be experienced, not merely understood intellectually.
The distinction between the nameless (ultimate reality) and the named (manifest world) reflects the relationship between the transcendent and the immanent, the formless and the formed.
Source
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu