The NS, or Name Server records of a domain, point out which servers handle the Domain Name System (DNS) records for it. Setting the name servers of a particular host company for your domain name is the most effective way to forward it to their system and all its sub-records will be handled on their end. This includes A (the IP address of the server/website), MX (mail server), TXT (free text), SRV (services), CNAME (forwarding), etc, so if you wish to edit any of these records, you're going to be able to do it by using their system. Put simply, the NS records of a domain name show the DNS servers that are authoritative for it, so when you attempt to open a web address, the DNS servers are contacted to get the DNS records of the Internet domain you are attempting to reach. That way the site you will see is going to be retrieved from the correct location. The name servers normally have a prefix “ns” or “dns” and every single domain address has at least two NS records. There's no sensible difference between the two prefixes, so what type a web hosting provider will use depends only on their preference.