Name Validation Rules
Names must conform to the following rules before they can be registered.
Rules
| Rule | Valid | Invalid |
|---|---|---|
| 1-62 characters | a, alice, my-name | `` (empty), 63+ chars |
| Lowercase only | alice | Alice, ALICE |
| Alphanumeric + hyphens | alice, bob-2 | alice_bob, alice.bob |
| No leading hyphen | alice | -alice |
| No trailing hyphen | alice | alice- |
| No consecutive hyphens | my-name | my--name |
Character set
a-z 0-9 -
Only lowercase ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens. No unicode, no underscores, no dots. The .zcash and .zec suffixes are display-only and not part of the stored name.
Normalization
The web interface automatically lowercases input and trims whitespace before validation. The indexer enforces these rules at the protocol level — invalid names in memos are silently ignored.
Examples
| Input | Valid | Reason |
|---|---|---|
alice | Yes | |
a | Yes | Single character allowed |
my-wallet-2 | Yes | Hyphens and numbers ok |
Alice | No | Uppercase |
-start | No | Leading hyphen |
end- | No | Trailing hyphen |
bad--name | No | Consecutive hyphens |
has space | No | Spaces not allowed |
has_underscore | No | Underscores not allowed |