Abstract Background and objectives The Neonatal Assessment Manual scorE (NAME) was developed to assist in the clinical management of infants in the neonatal ward by assessing their body’s compliance and homogeneity. The present study begins its validation process. Methods An expert panel of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) professionals investigated the NAME face and content validity. Content validity was assessed through the content validity index (CVI). Construct validity was assessed using data collected from 50 newborns hospitalized in the NICU of “Vittore Buzzi” Children Hospital of Milan, Italy. Kendall’s τ and ordinal logistic regressions were used to evaluate the correlation between the NAME scores and infants’ gestational age, birth weight, post-menstrual age, weight at the time of assessment, and a complexity index related to organic complications. Results The CVIs for compliance, homogeneity, and the whole scale were respectively 1, 0.9, and 0.95. Construct validity analysis showed significant positive correlations between the NAME and infants’ weight and age, and a negative correlation between the NAME and the complexity index (τ = − 0.31 [95% IC: − 0.47, − 0.12], p = 0.016 and OR = 0.56 [95% IC: 0.32, 0.94], p = 0.034 for categorical NAME; τ = − 0.32 [95% IC: − 0.48, − 0.14], p = 0.005 for numerical NAME). Conclusions The NAME was well accepted by NICU professionals in this study and it demonstrates good construct validity in discriminating the infant’s general condition. Future studies are needed to test the NAME reliability and predictive capacity.