Namebook

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A book in which names of people, places or items are written down and kept for reference
2. A register or volume used to list names, such as a roll of members or a record of the people in a group
3. A written collection of names kept as a ledger, index or list for later lookup

Etymology: The word is a plain compound: "name" joined to "book," describing a book in which names are written. Its ancestor appeared in Old English as "nambōc," and it passed into Middle English as "name-bok," so the pairing has been in the language for roughly a thousand years, long before the modern idea of a personal book of names took hold. Because the parts are transparent, the sense is easy to follow: a register or list where people's names are recorded. The construction follows the usual English habit of stacking two nouns, with the first word modifying the second, much like "handbook" or "logbook."

Synonyms: directory, registry