I'm a little confused... there shouldn't be a comma here. If anything, there should be a semicolon --> "...called Sam; it sat on the mat" because there are two phrases that could stand independently as sentences. This doesn't happen if there's just a comma there, unless there's a conjunction along with it (and, but, or, nor, etc.).
So I guess the technical term is a semicolon? Though that doesn't seem so technical...
Correct usage of a comma: The cat, called Sam, sat on a mat.
Or: The cat, who sat on a mat, was called Sam.
Or: Sam, a cat, sat on a mat.
Or: The cat, who was called by the marjority of unsaid persons as Sam, sat on the mat.
Or: Upon the mat sat a cat... No, forget that last one.
Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. — Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
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