diff --git a/code/defines/procs/helpers.dm b/code/defines/procs/helpers.dm
index e391f00ff67..1a7bb48cc21 100644
--- a/code/defines/procs/helpers.dm
+++ b/code/defines/procs/helpers.dm
@@ -128,18 +128,64 @@
 	return t
 
 //For sanitizing user inputs
-/proc/reject_bad_text(var/text)
-	if(length(text) > 512)	return			//message too long
+/proc/reject_bad_text(var/text, var/max_length=512)
+	if(length(text) > max_length)	return			//message too long
 	var/non_whitespace = 0
 	for(var/i=1, i<=length(text), i++)
 		switch(text2ascii(text,i))
 			if(62,60,92,47)	return			//rejects the text if it contains these bad characters: <, >, \ or /
 			if(127 to 255)	return			//rejects weird letters like �
 			if(0 to 31)		return			//more weird stuff
-			if(32)							//whitespace
+			if(32)			continue		//whitespace
 			else			non_whitespace = 1
 	if(non_whitespace)		return text		//only accepts the text if it has some non-spaces
 
+//proc for processing names to make it harder for people to use names to metagame. Much stricter than the above.
+//Allows only characters (A...Z,a...z), spaces and apostrophes.
+//There is a flag to allow numbers
+//removes doublespaces and double apostrophes
+//lowercases everything and capitalises the first letter of each word (or characters following an apostrophe)
+//prevents names which are too short, have too many space, or not enough normal letters
+/proc/reject_bad_name(var/t_in, var/allow_numbers=0, var/max_length=MAX_NAME_LEN)
+	if(length(t_in) > max_length)	return			//name too long
+	var/number_of_alphanumeric	= 0
+	var/number_of_spaces		= 0
+	var/last_char_group			= 0
+	var/t_out = ""
+	for(var/i=1, i<=length(t_in), i++)
+		var/ascii_char = text2ascii(t_in,i)
+		switch(ascii_char)
+			if(65 to 90)				//Uppercase letters allowed
+				switch(last_char_group)
+					if(3,4,0)			t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char)
+					else				t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char+32)	//lowercase if not preceeded by space or '
+				last_char_group = 1
+				number_of_alphanumeric++
+			if(97 to 122)				//Lowercase letters allowed
+				switch(last_char_group)
+					if(3,4,0)			t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char-32)	//uppercase if preceeded by space or '
+					else				t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char)
+				last_char_group = 2
+				number_of_alphanumeric++
+			if(32)						//Space
+				if(i==1)	continue
+				if(last_char_group!=3)	t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char)		//so we don't get double-spaces
+				last_char_group = 3
+				number_of_spaces++
+			if(39,45,46)				//Apostrophe for dem Oirish names like "O'Neil", dashes for double-barreled names and periods for "James T. Kirk" and AI's
+				if(i==1)	continue
+				if(last_char_group!=4)	t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char)		//so we don't get double apostrophes or whatever
+				last_char_group = 4
+			if(48 to 57)
+				if(allow_numbers)
+					t_out += ascii2text(ascii_char)		//Allow numbers (i.e. for borgs andd AIs)
+					number_of_alphanumeric++
+			else
+				return
+	if(number_of_alphanumeric < 4)	return		//protects against tiny names like "A" and also names like "' ' ' ' ' ' ' '"
+	if(number_of_spaces > 4 || number_of_spaces < 1)	return	//protects against single-word names like "Unknown" and names like "I ' M A D E R P Spaces Lul"
+	return t_out
+
 /proc/strip_html_simple(var/t,var/limit=MAX_MESSAGE_LEN)
 	var/list/strip_chars = list("<",">")
 	t = copytext(t,1,limit)
diff --git a/code/modules/mob/new_player/preferences.dm b/code/modules/mob/new_player/preferences.dm
index 074eefef44b..04abe6e2308 100644
--- a/code/modules/mob/new_player/preferences.dm
+++ b/code/modules/mob/new_player/preferences.dm
@@ -439,42 +439,30 @@ datum/preferences
 
 			return 1
 
+
 		if(link_tags["real_name"])
 			var/new_name
 
 			switch(link_tags["real_name"])
 				if("input")
-					new_name = copytext( (input(user, "Please select a name:", "Character Generation")  as text) ,1,MAX_NAME_LEN)
-					var/list/bad_characters = list("_", "\"", "<", ">", ";", "\[", "\]", "{", "}", "|", "\\","0","1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9")
-					for(var/c in bad_characters)
-						new_name = dd_replacetext(new_name, c, "")
-
-					if(!new_name || (new_name == "Unknown") || (new_name == "floor") || (new_name == "wall") || (new_name == "r-wall"))
-						alert("Invalid name. Don't do that!")
-						return
-
-					//Carn: To fix BYOND text-parsing errors caused by people using dumb capitalisation in their names.
-					var/tempname
-					for(var/N in dd_text2list(new_name, " "))
-						if(N && tempname) //if both aren't null strings
-							tempname += " "
-						tempname += capitalize(lowertext(N))
-					new_name = tempname
+					new_name = reject_bad_name( input(user, "Please select a name:", "Character Generation")  as text|null )
 
 				if("random")
 					randomize_name()
 
 			if(new_name)
 				real_name = new_name
+			else
+				user << "<font color='red'>Invalid name. Your name should be at least ten letters and two words. It should be under [MAX_NAME_LEN] characters long. It may only contain the characters A-Z, a-z, -, ' and .</font>"
 
 		if(link_tags["age"])
 			switch(link_tags["age"])
 				if("input")
-					var/new_age = input(user, "Please select type in age: 15-45", "Character Generation")  as num
+					var/new_age = input(user, "Please select type in age: 17-45", "Character Generation")  as num
 					if(new_age)
-						age = max(min(round(text2num(new_age)), 45), 15)
+						age = max(min(round(text2num(new_age)), 45), 17)
 				if("random")
-					age = rand (20, 45)
+					age = rand (17, 45)
 
 		if(link_tags["OOC"])
 			var/tempnote = ""