Could you add in the class design window the Hull Abbreviations in the "Class" dropdown? It would make finding ship classes easier. Basically that it looks like in the "Manage Shipyards" "Assigned Class"-Tab.
Also if a ship name has the added (P) for Prototype elements, when you want to change the name of that class, the "(p)" is included in the name field, and if you don't delete it, it becomes a permanent element of the ship class name.