Ubuntu :: Using Variables In Hostname?

I'm have been tasked with created a base Ubuntu image that can be used for cloning to multiple machines. As this is a network environment, each hostname will obviously need to be unique. Rather than manually changing the hostname each time a new, cloned machine is rolled out, I was wondering if there is a way to use a variable in the hostname (i.e., use a variable to truncate the the last 6 digits of the MAC address to the end of the static hostname--or any other unique variable for that matter--so it would look like hostname00E6D4).