In 泰坦尼克号, why is it a 号 at the end?

Question

In 泰坦尼克号, why is it a 号 at the end? What does it mean? What does it add to the meaning? I saw it without the 号 also.

cf。The New York Times, 纽约时报 The Washington Post, 华盛顿邮报 Pravda 真理报， The Times, 泰晤士报 Neues Deutschland, 新德意志报，The Financial Times, 金融时报 — user6065, Apr 25 '18 at 03:23

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:50

From What does "青年文明号" mean?

号 is a common designation word for naming man-made vehicles like ships, planes and trains.

For example:

Ronald Reagan = 罗纳德·里根

USS Ronald Reagan = 罗纳德·里根号 (super-carrier named after Ronald Reagan)

泰坦尼克号 (鐵達尼號 in Cantonese) is so famous, even if you omit '号' at the end, people would still understand you are referring to the ship that sunk in 1912.

You are correct, just 泰坦尼克 (鐵達尼) would be enough for a movies title, that's why you saw it without 号.

However, if a movies is about '里根, the super-carrier', it is better to refer it as 里根号 to avoid confusion. (people would think the story is about 'the person, President Ronald Reagan' without the 号 at the end.)

In 泰坦尼克号, why is it a 号 at the end?

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