What does the suffix 号 mean when it's attached to animal names?


One of the [definitions for the suffix 号 in
大辞林](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%8F%B7) looks like this:

> 列車・船・飛行機・動物などの名に付けて用いる。  
>  「ひかり―」

I'm somewhat familiar with this suffix from fiction. For example, I remember
it from the anime series ふしぎの海のナディア, which had a submarine called the ノーチラス号.
And I've seen it used for other forms of transportation in fiction, too, like
airships, and even a race car.

But I haven't seen it used for animal names, and the definition above says it
can attach to the names of 動物 as well. [Wikipedia's disambiguation page for
号](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B7) says something similar:

> ウマ、イヌなど、動物の名前につける接尾辞。

But it doesn't say when it would be used, and I can't remember having seen any
pet or animal names ending in 号. So I'm curious: do people still use the
suffix this way? If so, when would it be used?




~号 appears to be used in cases where the animal's name is formally registered
in some way, like with [show dogs](http://www.nihonken-
hozonkai.or.jp/page011.html), and also with working animals such as police
dogs. This name may not be the normal name of the animal, just as in English
with show dogs that have a registered name and a day to day name ("call
name").

The 警察犬 article on Wikipedia gives a link to [this
example](http://www.asahi.com/eco/OSK201001180092.html) (linked for the
adorableness. There is a photo.)

> 登録名は「クリーク号」、元の名前は「くぅ」

In most of the article he's called 「くぅ」, so that would be the usual name
although 「クリーク号」 is the registered name.

I don't think there's a direct translation as there's not anything added onto
registered names in English - although as with the example the two names are
often related - the call name being a shortening of or reference to the
registered name.




~号 appears to be used in cases where the animal's name is formally registered
in some way, like with [show dogs](http://www.nihonken-
hozonkai.or.jp/page011.html), and also with working animals such as police
dogs. This name may not be the normal name of the animal, just as in English
with show dogs that have a registered name and a day to day name ("call
name").

The 警察犬 article on Wikipedia gives a link to [this
example](http://www.asahi.com/eco/OSK201001180092.html) (linked for the
adorableness. There is a photo.)

> 登録名は「クリーク号」、元の名前は「くぅ」

In most of the article he's called 「くぅ」, so that would be the usual name
although 「クリーク号」 is the registered name.

I don't think there's a direct translation as there's not anything added onto
registered names in English - although as with the example the two names are
often related - the call name being a shortening of or reference to the
registered name.

