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My laptop's hostname appears to be Georges-MacBook-Pro-Mid-2145.local,

Computers on your local network can access your computer at: Georges-MacBook-Pro-Mid-2145.local

$ hostname
Georges-MacBook-Pro-Mid-2145.local

Why is the number reported here 2145 instead of 2015? (I own a MacBook Pro Mid-2015, so I was expecting the host name to be Georges-MacBook-Pro-Mid-2015.local).

Did I do something wrong somewhere while twiddling about in the terminal or is it normal that the last numbers are... "random" (?)

minseong
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  • It's probably getting that from your local DNS server for some reason; without knowing more it's hard to tell what that reason is. See: MacOS Strange Terminal Prompt, Tried Resetting Terminal. – Gordon Davisson Apr 25 '19 at 00:20
  • The prompt uses the hostname, so the same sources of confusion should apply. – Gordon Davisson Apr 25 '19 at 00:24
  • That's not the point; the point is that the Q&A answer I linked explains why you can get an unexpected hostname; whether you're seeing the weird name via the hostname command or via the shell prompt doesn't matter. – Gordon Davisson Apr 25 '19 at 00:30
  • @GordonDavisson it's using my network provider's DNS server I think. So my computer's hostname can change if I went to someone else's house or something? I never knew this – minseong Apr 25 '19 at 00:45
  • @theonlygusti "So my computer's hostname can change if I went to someone else's house or something?" No! Your computer's hostname never changes until you tell it to. Your WiFi network / DNS / whatever does not control the hostname. – Dev Apr 25 '19 at 01:04
  • @theonlygusti your hostname is a name, for the host, your computer. It does not change based on which network you use. That answer they linked you to has a prompt that's doing some weird stuff that macOS doesn't do on its own. – Dev Apr 25 '19 at 01:09
  • The hostname can be determined by DNS - if the DNS service has a name associated with your IP address, that overrides what's in the Sharing Preferences. But the screenshot you added shows that the weird name is in the Sharing Preferences, which is not affected by DNS. Therefore, this is not coming from where I thought it might be. I don't know why it's different, but it should be safe to fix it in the Sharing Preferences. – Gordon Davisson Apr 25 '19 at 05:49
  • @GordonDavisson is it indeed a "weird" name after all? – minseong Apr 25 '19 at 09:39

2 Answers2

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Have you tried clicking the edit button that's right next to the hostname that you want to edit?

Edit button in action

Dev
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  • I don't want to change the hostname, at least not until I know why it has this value. – minseong Apr 25 '19 at 01:07
  • It has that value because you probably made a typo when setting it up, then changed the computer name, and changing the computer name doesn't change the hostname. It's probably simpler than you think and it has nothing to do with what network you're on. – Dev Apr 25 '19 at 01:16
  • "when setting it up" — when would I have manually set up my own hostname? – minseong Apr 25 '19 at 09:40
  • @theonlygusti when setting your computer name for the first time? the hostname is set from that... if you made any typo there but then changed it, the hostname would not have changed on its own, you would have to change the hostname manually – Dev May 05 '19 at 03:54
  • I'm pretty sure I never had to choose my computer's name when setting it up... – minseong May 05 '19 at 15:21
  • @theonlygusti Then how exactly did it end up with the name George's MacBook Pro Mid 2015? – Dev May 05 '19 at 21:38
  • auto-generated from me setting my username as "George" no? – minseong May 05 '19 at 22:52
  • @theonlygusti then where did 2145 come from lol... Besides, mine only said "[Name]'s MacBook Pro" when I did first see it so even if you didn't set it, it wouldn't say "Mid 2015" – Dev May 05 '19 at 23:19
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This question is a manifestation of the same situation described in question Why is my host name wrong at the Terminal prompt when connected to a public WiFi network?, and the answer https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/127405/17600 explains the cause and the solution. Copying from that answer:

Type in Terminal:

scutil --get HostName

If there's no HostName available, what you see is probably coming from the DNS or DHCP server.

Set your HostName with:

sudo scutil --set HostName 'yourHostName'

That should do it.

Jim DeLaHunt
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