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What is the origin of The Orville's registry number, ECV-197? It can be seen on the side of the ship in the opening animations. What does "ECV" stand for in-universe, and why was this particular number chosen?
Address both in and out-of-universe reasons for the name, if possible. (for example does "197" have some meaning to the writers of the show)
As a side note, I noticed that the shuttlecraft carry the same registry number with a suffix. We've seen at least ECV-197-1 and ECV-197-2 so far.
It would appear that the prefix ECV stands for Exploratory-Class Vessel.
In Season 1, Episode 6 we encounter the USS Olympia. Its prefix is LCV-529 and is described by Seth Macfarlane as a "Leviathan class"
And in the Orville comic New Beginnings, Pt. 1 we encounter the BCV Burton. It's described as a battleship.
In the opening episode the Orville is described as an "exploratory vessel".
"The USS Orville. It's not exactly a heavy cruiser, but it is an exploratory vessel."
Which gives us L for Leviathan, B for Battleship, E for Exploratory, C for Class and V for Vessel.
There are no indications what the numbers refer to, but it can be surmised that it's a build number, 001 potentially being the first in its class.
As with many things Orville, it can trace back to Star Trek.
There NCC-1701 was arbitrary. Matt Jefferies was an Aviation designer and N is the typical prefix for aircraft registries. The CC1701 was just a choice. Some sorces retcon NCC to mean "Navigation Contact Code" but they are non-canonical.
ECV probably is Exploration Class Vessel, but I don't recall it being explicitly stated.
As to a shuttle being ECV-197-1 that calls back to Enterprise's Shuttles on Star Trek being NCC-1701/1 or, the assigned ships registry followed by a / and a number.
I'd expect that the lowest ECV or any other registry in the Orvilleverse to be 100.
