Why does my hostname keep getting a -2 at the end

[snarfquest]

Everyday my hostname changes for some reason I haven't been able to figure out. It's been doing it since the first beta's of Yosemite. It keeps getting a -2 (dash two) on the end.

Really makes a mess of back-to-my Mac..

 

[fisherking]

happening to a lot of us... (i get (2) or (3). annoying...

 

[MacsRgr8]

Hostname or computer name?

The hostname is typically the name of the computer by given by the DNS server, something like "imac1.company.private".

The computer name (Bonjour name) is in this example something like "iMac-1" (note the capitals and the "-").
If another device on the same network also is called iMac-1, then that second device will be called iMac-1(2).

 

[bkribbs]

Here's a relavent thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1772837/

There may be a fix at the end too, not sure.