It was discovered on 17 December 2000, by astronomers of the LONEOS program at the Anderson Mesa Station near Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States.
The asteroid was named after American biographer and research associate, Naomi Pasachoff.
[2] This minor planet was named by LONEOS-astronomer Edward Bowell after American biographer and research associate, Naomi Pasachoff (born 1947), who has written several scientific biographies.
Her published work includes biographies of Marie Curie, Alexander Graham Bell, Niels Bohr, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling.
[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 6 January 2007 (M.P.C.