Numbers aren't exactly a finite resource [1] and there's no particular reason that version numbers have to "stay small" other than aesthetics.

[1] Mathematically positive natural numbers are infinite. Realistically, most systems traditionally implement version numbers as sets of at least 16-bit numbers and there are 65,536 numbers to choose from, not just the first ten or so.

What you you prefer? The year/month based versions that some operating systems use seems like an ok fit.

New versions don't have to be a big deal. Most users won't even notice, and that's by design.