History Main / CharacterNameLimits

* ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'': In the in-universe game the players live in, Caine can give a new player a randomized name based on a five-character slot machine if the player doesn't name themselves. This is parodied when Pomni's name nearly becomes "XDDCC".

** In the English version of ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'', Giovanni's name is spelled "Giovani" due to Trainer names being limited to seven characters.

Many older video games have limits to how many letters can be provided in text entries. This can lead to a character's name shortened to fit into the allotted space. Sometimes an entirely new name is made for the character, other times letters are dropped from the name to make it fit.

* ''VideoGame/CardCityNights2'': The protagonist's name is limited to 14 characters.

** Creator/NealStephenson writes in "In The Beginning Was The Command Line", about the shortened directory names inherent to {{UsefulNotes/UNIX}}:

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' [=CamelCases=] item names in encounter screens and scrunches them down to eight or nine letters, for no apparent reason other than {{Retraux}} flavor. For example, butterscotch pie becomes the less appetizing [=ButtsPie=]. When you use a [=SpidrDont=] (Spider Donut) in battle, it says, "Don't worry, the spider didn't." Certain boss fights remove jokes in the abbreviations; for instance, [=SpidrDont=] becomes [=SpdrDonut=]. The name you input at the beginning of the game is also limited to six letters.

** While not commented upon in-universe, humans and Trolls essential to Sburb[=/=]SGRUB have names that fit within certain character limits. Humans have four-character given names and six to seven-character surnames, while Trolls have six-character names for both. Non-essential people don't have to adhere to the limit (e.g. Colonel Sassacre, Troll Will Smith). [[spoiler:This is also true of the 2 Cherubs encountered, both of whom have eight-character given names, but gain names that don't follow that rule when they fill another role (like Caliborn becoming Lord English).]]

** While not commented upon in-universe, humans and Trolls essential to Sburb[=/=]SGRUB have names that fit within certain character limits. Humans have four-character given names and six to seven-character surnames, while Trolls have six-character names for both. Non-essential people don't have to adhere to the limit (e.g. Colonel Sassacre, Troll Will Smith).

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' with the names of [[http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/File:Kind_Abstrata.png "kind abstracta"]] (weapon proficiencies) which are limited to 8 characters + "kind", leading to "fncysntakind" if you wield a [[http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Fancy_Santa fancy Santa]] as a bludgeon.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Lufia}}'' series, "Selene" was shortened to "Selan" and "Heidecker" became "Dekar". ''VideoGame/LufiaTheLegendReturns'' averted this by allowing other party members' names to be longer than five characters (TheHero is limited to five, but his canon name merely went [[SpellMyNameWithAnS from "Wein" to "Wain"]]).

* The prevalence of three-letter instruction mnemonics in assembly languages (which need to abbreviate most instruction names in any case) dates back to assemblers written for some early IBM computers (and virtual machines running on the same), in which three 6-bit characters made up exactly one half of a 36-bit machine word. Many later assembly languages never strictly adhered to this limit, but retained obvious three-letter abbreviations such as MOV (move) and NOP (no-op) due to the force of tradition.