History Main / CharacterNameLimits

* When computers started getting used for school records in TheEighties, there were limits of ten characters for first names. One problem: one of the most common American boys' names of TheSeventies, Christopher, had 11 letters, so teachers often had several [=CHRISTOPHEs=] their class rolls.
* This trope is enforced in [[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing horse racing]]. Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds (the latter used in harness racing) can have no more than 18 characters in their registered names, at least in English-speaking countries. This count ''includes spaces and punctuation''. The US allows apostrophes in names, but the UK doesn't. American Quarter Horses can have 20 characters, again including spaces, but punctuation marks are not allowed. For example, "Unbridled's Song" is a legitimate Thoroughbred name in the US (and was used for a successful, though not all-time great, American horse), but would not be allowed for a UK Thoroughbred or a quarter horse. There are other restrictions that we won't go into here.

** This is why the feather items introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' are called "Wings" in English and Paralysis Heal is called "Parlyz Heal" before being changed to "Paralyze Heal" in ''X and Y''

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Milhouse tries to enter "Thrillhouse" as his name when playing a video game, but it ends up as "THRILLHO" instead. It gets funnier when the viewer realises that "Milhouse" ''would'' have fit the character limit.

* One of the reasons ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'' for the SNES was never [[NoExportForYou translated]] was due to the game's technical problems, including a nasty issue with the game's code where increasing the character limit broke the game in several ways, and would've needed too much time to fix on time for an already late entry in the console's lifespan.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', the Four Fiends take their names from ''The Divine Comedy'': Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia and Rubicante; these became "Milon," "Kainazzo," "Valvalis" and "Rubicant" in the original Super NES release and the Playstation port. In the same releases, the summons Leviathan and Bahamut appear in the menu as Levia and Baham. In addition, due to the six-character limit on party member names, Gilbart was renamed Edward.

* In an Franchise/ArchieComics strip, Archie once asked Jughead to buy him a VanityLicensePlate that read SUPERDUDE. It turned out that only the first eight letters would fit on the plate.

*** The initials AUM are banned on almost every Japanese video game because of its connection to the subway-gassing cult.
** 'ASS', for the more dirty-minded people.

* This trope is enforced in [[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing horse racing]]. Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds (the latter used in harness racing) can have no more than 18 characters in their registered names, at least in English-speaking countries. This count ''includes spaces and punctuation''. American Quarter Horses can have 20 characters, again including spaces, but punctuation marks are not allowed. For example, "Unbridled's Song" is a legitimate Thoroughbred name (actually used for a successful, though not all-time great, American horse), but would not be allowed for a quarter horse. There are other restrictions that we won't go into here.

** The notorious bootleg ''JustForFun/PokemonVietnameseCrystal'' is made even more nonsensical by retaining character limits obviously not designed for a Western language.

* While it is the first time you name your captain in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', you can spell their names as however long as you want (due to it being based on your Mobage account username), However, subsequent renames are limited to six characters.

* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' has the protagonist named "Crono" as there's a limit to five letters to character names. In the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS [[UpdatedRerelease rerelease]], an extra sixth space was added, so it's possible to name him "Chrono" now. Either way, his name appears as "Crono" by default on the "[[HelloInsertNameHere name this character]]" screen, as it's his official English name.

** "Pokémon" is sometimes shortened to "Pkmn" within the early games. To drive the point even further home, the P and K were combined into one special character, while the M and N were combined into another.

** "Pokémon" is sometimes shortened to "Pkmn" within the early games.

** ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireI'' has to change or truncate most of the main character's names due to a 4-letter limit, such as changing Gilliam into Bo, Builder into Ox or rendering "Zorgon" and "Carla" as "Zog" and "Cerl". ''Every single'' item name was also struck with this, often ending up with confusing names ("A.Ptn" for Agility Potion, "Antdt" for Antidote) or heavily compressed ones with two uppercase letters to indicate type ([=BronzSD=]=Bronze Sword, [=SilverDR=]=Silver Dagger, etc.). Enemy and town names are not excempt, either.

This can be quite prevalent in games translated from Japanese--after all, in the UsefulNotes/JapaneseWritingSystem, a single kanji or kana character can represent an entire syllable which would need multiple letters in the Latin alphabet.

Compare SerendipityWritesThePlot when technical limitations change the creative direction of a work of fiction, and {{Cap}}. See also DubNameChange, as differences between languages may cause this to occur when translations are done.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has Feraligatr and Victreebel, as there's a limit of 10 letters for their names. Victreebel is particularly noticeable as its pre-evolution Weepinbell has both L's. The name limit was increased to 12 for ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', but the abbreviated names remained.

** At first, Vespiquen looks like the second E in "queen" was dropped for this reason, until you count the letters and realize there's only nine.

[[caption-width-right:400:Milhouse trying to be radical.]]

** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyI'' is filled with these, both with enemies (such as PEDE, as opposed to Centipede, or BLUE D for Blue Dragon) and with spells (such as HRM, LIT). These became especially evident in subsequent re-releases of the game, which had less constrictive character limits and changed many names to be more faithful to their full intended names (example: MADPONY became Crazy Horse, and for a boss, KARY was now Marilith).
** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyII'' changes several characters' names due to space limits. Frionel became Firion, Leonhart became Leon, and Richard Highwind ([[DubNameChange eventually]]) became Ricard Highwind.
** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIV'', the Four Fiends take their names from ''The Divine Comedy'': Scarmiglione, Cagnazzo, Barbariccia and Rubicante; these became "Milon," "Kainazzo," "Valvalis" and "Rubicant" in the original Super NES release and the Playstation port. In the same releases, the summons Leviathan and Bahamut appear in the menu as Levia and Baham. In addition, due to the six-character limit on party member names, Gilbart was renamed Edward.
** ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVI'', Strago drops the "s" from the end of his Japanese name. Cyan is similarly a simplified version of his Japanese name, Cayenne. These names are still kept in the ''Advance'' port despite the extended character limit.

** ''VisualNovel/FinalFantasyVIII'', the name of [[SummonMagic Guardian Force]] Quetzalcoatl has to be shortened to "Quezacotl."
* In ''Videogame/GoldenSun'', playable characters get this treatment in the English versions of the game because of this trope, leading to name changes from Gerald to Garet, Garcia to Felix, Jasmine to Jenna and Picard to Piers.
** Character limits are increased in ''Videogame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', with names like Matthew and Tyrell running around.

* ''Videogame/ChronoTrigger'' has the protagonist named "Crono" as there's a limit to five letters to character names.
** In the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS [[UpdatedRerelease rerelease]], an extra sixth space was added, so it's possible to name him "Chrono" now. Either way, his name appears as "Crono" by default on the "[[HelloInsertNameHere name this character]]" screen, as it's his official English name.
** ''Videogame/ChronoCross'' has a six letter limit instead. A few of the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters had a DubNameChange for it (Mamacha to Macha, Marcella to Marcy, Lucky Dan to Mojo, Spriggan to Sprigg).

* This trope is enforced in [[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing horse racing]]. Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds (the latter used in harness racing) can have no more than 18 characters in their registered names, at least in English-speaking countries. This count ''includes spaces and punctuation''. American Quarter Horses can have 20 characters, again including spaces, but punctuation marks are not allowed. For example, "Unbridled's Song" is a legitimate Thoroughbred name (actually used for a successful, though not all-time great, American horse), but would not be allowed for a quarter horse. There are other restrictions:
** The names of identifiable living individuals are not allowed without written permission from the namesake. First names are acceptable as the whole name or part of it.
** Names cannot be trademarks, even if they're trademarks of the horse's owner.
** In the Standardbred world, breeding farms can set their farm name aside for their exclusive use.
** Names of previously registered horses cannot be reused until a set period of years have passed since the prior horse was no longer active in racing or breeding... unless the previous horse wins major honors or awards, in which case the name will be permanently retired. Lookalikes or soundalikes of such names are also outlawed.
*** Note that retirement only applies within the breed in question. For example, Film/{{Secretariat}}'s name has been permanently retired for Thoroughbreds, but the United States Trotting Association (which governs all harness racing in the country) accepted Secretariat as the name of a 1988 foal, despite the legendary Thoroughbred still being alive and actively breeding at the time.
*** Also, in the Standardbred world, a retired name may be used as part of the name of a direct descendant of said horse—although the suffix "Jr." is specifically banned.

* Obliquely touched on in ''Webcomic/MSPaintMasterpieces''. The author renamed one of the Robot Masters from Elec Man to Electric Man--because he reasoned/assumed that the character would have been named Electric Man originally if the first ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' game hadn't had an eight-character name limit.