diff --git a/app/models/group.rb b/app/models/group.rb
index 23d2e39b4..fd0f583f7 100644
--- a/app/models/group.rb
+++ b/app/models/group.rb
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class Group < Principal
 
   validates_presence_of :lastname
   validates_uniqueness_of :lastname, :case_sensitive => false
-  validates_length_of :lastname, :maximum => 30
+  validates_length_of :lastname, :maximum => 255
 
   before_destroy :remove_references_before_destroy
 
diff --git a/app/views/groups/_form.html.erb b/app/views/groups/_form.html.erb
index a5cb5d068..7dc224061 100644
--- a/app/views/groups/_form.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/groups/_form.html.erb
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <%= error_messages_for @group %>
 
 <div class="box tabular">
-  <p><%= f.text_field :name %></p>
+  <p><%= f.text_field :name, :required => true, :size => 60 %></p>
   <% @group.custom_field_values.each do |value| %>
     <p><%= custom_field_tag_with_label :group, value %></p>
   <% end %>
diff --git a/db/migrate/20130215073721_change_users_lastname_length_to_255.rb b/db/migrate/20130215073721_change_users_lastname_length_to_255.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7d68e37d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20130215073721_change_users_lastname_length_to_255.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+class ChangeUsersLastnameLengthTo255 < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def self.up
+    change_column :users, :lastname, :string, :limit => 255, :default => '', :null => false
+  end
+
+  def self.down
+    change_column :users, :lastname, :string, :limit => 30, :default => '', :null => false
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/unit/group_test.rb b/test/unit/group_test.rb
index c04583ae6..53f1603e2 100644
--- a/test/unit/group_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/group_test.rb
@@ -35,6 +35,14 @@ class GroupTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal 'New group', g.name
   end
 
+  def test_name_should_accept_255_characters
+    name = 'a' * 255
+    g = Group.new(:name => name)
+    assert g.save
+    g.reload
+    assert_equal name, g.name
+  end
+
   def test_blank_name_error_message
     set_language_if_valid 'en'
     g = Group.new