Registry
A registry was a place to record or register information. One such registry was the Vulcan Genome Registry. ()

Vessels were often registered by agency. They may have recorded a vessel's name, registry number, history, and basic ship information. () This information was generally transmitted via registration beam. () These registries could also be forged. ()

Ship registries were used as early as the 19th century. In 1893, after overhearing a time-lost Data mentioning a starship, Samuel Clemens asked, "What registry is that!?" ()

Throughout the 20th century, both civil and military aircraft were registered. In addition to registration, military aircraft were given serial numbers. One of these registry abbreviations, first used by American civil aviation, later appeared on Earth shuttles and starships. This was the abbreviation NC. An example of an NC registry was "NC 18602" (the California Clipper). (; ; )

In the 23rd and 24th centuries, Starfleet vessels were able to check both historical registries from Earth and Vulcan as well as the Starfleet Registry. (; )

Between 2254 and 2364, registry numbers skyrocketed from the NCC-1701 of the  to the NCC-87270 of the . 

The  was not listed in any registry, although this might have been a result of the fragmented records in that era, and the Augments' desire to remain hidden. ()

Registry numbers and prefixes
In some governments and agencies, a ship entered into a registry received a prefix that was placed before the vessel's name. This prefix was used to easily identify the vessel as belonging to that agency.

A registry prefix should not be confused with a ship's prefix code.

Vessel prefixes include:

† With Earth's national prefixes (British HMS and Russian VK) still in use up to the founding of the Federation, it is probable that "USS" still meant "United States Ship" in the same time frame, but we only have one example to look at.

Items listed in a registry generally had a number or code to help identify the specific entry.

In some registries, the registry number was preceded by an abbreviation as well:

Aside from the registry prefixes, Starfleet has also used letters after the main registry prefix to further define specific types of craft. This was seen in the freighter , with its registry of NCC-F1513 and the  ships with the registry NCC-G1465. () 

The first Earth ship to have warp drive installed, , had an anomalous arrangement of the registry numbers, 10281NCC. () So did , with the registry NCC-2010-5, and the , with the registry NC-5940-1. (; )

Shuttlecraft assigned to starbases and other installations were given registries indicating their origin. Such vessels were the da Vinci SB4-0314⁄2 from Starbase 4 and the Picasso SB11-1201⁄1 from Starbase 11. () The shuttlecraft Verne assigned to Relay Station 47 was simply given the registry RS-47. ()

On Starfleet display graphics, Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian starships had had registry numbers or identification codes without a letter prefix. These included ships like the Klingon  (454435), Romulan warbird  (19386), and a Cardassian warship (324384950). (; )

In the alternate reality, an escape pod of the  was registered as 313-C. Starfleet did not use registry prefixes on small craft such as jumpships and military shuttles that were not assigned to a starship. (; )

Starfleet sometimes used sequential lettering after a registry number was repeated to honor a former vessel. ()

Examples of this include:

Appendices

Background information 
The most famous registry number, of course, is "NCC-1701" of the original . It was chosen by Matt Jefferies, who was a pilot before joining the Star Trek staff, and based the registry number on 20th century  codes. In the early 20th century, the letter "N" indicated a United States origin, and the letter "C" indicated a civilian aircraft. As American craft used NC and Soviet craft used CCCC, Jefferies combined the two as NCC. His philosophy was, "If we do anything in space, we (Americans and Russians) have to do it together."  In a sketch of the Enterprise, drawn by Jefferies, he states the numbers "1701" stand for the 17th cruiser design, serial number #1.  Also, upon choosing the Enterprises registry number, Jefferies decided that the number should be easily readable, so he was careful to avoid numbers that could be confusing, such as 3, 6 and 8. ()

According to the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, the registry prefix NXP was used for study models, also called pathfinders, in the development phase of a starship class. For the  escort, the pathfinder was designated NXP-2365WP/T. According to the , the registry prefix for the  Odin was NGL and for the  it was NDT.

Based on usage –  and  – it is probable that the "VK" prefix was used on Russian starships in Star Trek. In the real world, the Russians do not use prefixes for their ship names. VK, however might be an homage to Tom Clancy. In the book , the primary Alfa-class attack sub is named V.K. Konovalov, in honor of .

Apocrypha 
According to the novels of Diane Duane and Peter Morwood, Klingon starships use a "KL" registry number prefix. Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels give the prefix "ChR" for Romulan starships.

According to the Star Trek: Ships of the Line (2009) calendar (for the month of December), the registry prefix "X" was used for static test models. An example was the "X-17B", which was used for evaluating the performance of a refitted  heavy cruiser in the mid-2260s.

External link 
 

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Identification technology