Hi, > z <- (-1:3)+2i > names(z) <- LETTERS[1:5] > z A B C D E -1+2i 0+2i 1+2i 2+2i 3+2i Nice :-) > names(z)[2] <- "long name" > z A long name C D E -1+2i 0+2i 1+2i 2+2i 3+2i Not nice :-( This happens with R-2.4.0 and current R-devel. It also happens with raw vectors as reported one month ago. Cheers, H.