\documentclass[12pt]{thesis}

\usepackage{makendx}
\makenameindex
\namefont{\sl\bfseries}

\begin{document}

\chapter{Preface}

We are grateful to \name[Knuth, Donald E.]{Donald E. Knuth} for \TeX{}.
Furthermore we thank \nameindex{Lamport, Leslie} \emph{Leslie Lamport}
and the \LaTeX3{} \name*{Project}. 

\renewcommand{\indexname}{Nameindex}
\printnameindex
\end{document}