diff --git a/ietf/submit/utils.py b/ietf/submit/utils.py
index 50cd7a0f8..58da35155 100644
--- a/ietf/submit/utils.py
+++ b/ietf/submit/utils.py
@@ -80,8 +80,11 @@ def has_been_replaced_by(name):
     return None
 
 def validate_submission_name(name):
-    if not re.search(r'^draft-[a-z][-a-z0-9]{0,39}$', name):
-        return "Expected name 'draft-...' using lowercase ascii letters, digits, and hyphen; found '%s'." % name
+    if not re.search(r'^draft-[a-z][-a-z0-9]{0,43}$', name):
+        if len(name) > 50:
+            return "Expected the draft name to be at most 50 ascii characters long; found %d." % len(name)
+        else:
+            return "Expected name 'draft-...' using lowercase ascii letters, digits, and hyphen; found '%s'." % name
 
 def validate_submission_rev(name, rev):
     if not rev: