diff --git a/app/models/username_validator.rb b/app/models/username_validator.rb
index 1ef41e17efa..0dbae4bae6e 100644
--- a/app/models/username_validator.rb
+++ b/app/models/username_validator.rb
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class UsernameValidator
   def username_first_char_valid?
     return unless errors.empty?
     if username[0] =~ /\W/
-      self.errors << I18n.t(:'user.username.must_begin_with_alphanumeric')
+      self.errors << I18n.t(:'user.username.must_begin_with_alphanumeric_or_underscore')
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/config/locales/server.en.yml b/config/locales/server.en.yml
index 281d5365467..4fe2c9cc74f 100644
--- a/config/locales/server.en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/server.en.yml
@@ -1397,8 +1397,8 @@ en:
       characters: "must only include numbers, letters and underscores"
       unique: "must be unique"
       blank: "must be present"
-      must_begin_with_alphanumeric: "must begin with a letter or number or an underscore"
-      must_end_with_alphanumeric: "must end with a letter or number or an underscore"
+      must_begin_with_alphanumeric_or_underscore: "must begin with a letter, a number or an underscore"
+      must_end_with_alphanumeric: "must end with a letter or a number"
       must_not_contain_two_special_chars_in_seq: "must not contain a sequence of 2 or more special chars (.-_)"
       must_not_end_with_confusing_suffix: "must not end with a confusing suffix like .json or .png etc."
     email: