# Non-alphanumeric characters in usernames
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390
**Category:** Site feedback
**Created:** [February 25, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390 "2025-02-25T11:18:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390/1 "2025-02-25T11:18:37Z")
Hello, fellow Discoursers, I hope you’re enjoying a great day/night!
I was surprised to see a username here that doesn’t use any alphanumeric character ([Илья\_Комаров](https://meta.discourse.org/u/%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2/summary)). I don’t recall seeing one before 🤔
I don’t know if non-alphanumeric characters are allowed here for a long time. But I find it a bit strange to allow them on this forum which is an English-spoken platform.
It’s slightly detrimental to communication since I can’t mention\[1\] or write (or even pronounce) this user’s username without having to rely on copy-pasting.
Usernames should always be easy to @mention.
I think full names are the right place to make use of non-alphanumeric characters 🙂
* * *
1. The full name doesn’t have any non-alphanumeric character as well
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### Author:  [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390/2 "2025-02-25T12:37:57Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> I was surprised to see a username here that doesn’t use any alphanumeric character ([Илья\_Комаров](https://meta.discourse.org/u/%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2/summary)). I don’t recall seeing one before 🤔
There are some. Not a lot, but I’ve seen a few sign-ups each month that use Unicode characters since we introduced [Unicode usernames and group names](https://meta.discourse.org/t/unicode-usernames-and-group-names/117737) in 2019.
It was enabled for testing and dogfooding, and I guess we can’t disable it anymore unless we rename all users who have Unicode characters in their username. Otherwise, those users would be broken.
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> Usernames should always be easy to @mention.
From a technical standpoint, they are… you just aren’t used to typing those letters. 😜
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### Author:  [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390/3 "2025-02-25T13:59:14Z")
I can read and pronounce that name, but I have no skills to write it on iPad.
As a user it doesn’t matter (for me), because I don’t mention anyone. But as an admin I don’t know how I would search a user with cyrillic or any others characters.
For me that is quite academic question, though.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 3:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390/4 "2025-02-25T15:48:00Z")
> [@gerhard](#):
>
> From a technical standpoint, they are… you just aren’t used to typing those letters. 😜
I can’t find them on my keyboard… :lolsob:
It reminds me a little anecdote.
I was working in a cybercafé a long time ago. One day, a client, clearly puzzled after struggling with his computer, came to me and asked, “Where’s the ‘n’ key on your keyboards? There’s no key ‘n’?” I pointed to the “n” key on his keyboard and said, “The ‘n’ is here.” He thanked me and returned to his writing.
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### Author:  [@supermathie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/supermathie)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/non-alphanumeric-characters-in-usernames/354390/5 "2025-02-25T16:55:36Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> a username here that doesn’t use any alphanumeric character ([Илья\_Комаров](https://meta.discourse.org/u/%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2/summary))
pedantic: it _does_ use alphanumeric characters, they’re just not from the English alphabet