According to Wikipedia, NS stood for NeXTSTEP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Kit#:~:text=This%20framework%20uses%20the%20prefix,of%20the%20Swift%20st

According to Wikipedia, NS stood for NeXTSTEP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Kit#:~:text=This%20framework%20uses%20the%20prefix,of%20the%20Swift%20standard%20library https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_Kit#:~:text=This%20.... I do remember people in my circles thinking it stood for NeXT Software (which was likely a more suitable name for its use at the time).