diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceBestMatchIndexingPlugin.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceBestMatchIndexingPlugin.java
index 39130e9224d2..a1830a3931c7 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceBestMatchIndexingPlugin.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/discovery/SolrServiceBestMatchIndexingPlugin.java
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ protected void addIndexValueForPersonItem(Item item, SolrInputDocument document)
         String lastName = getMetadataValue(item, LASTNAME_FIELD);
         List<String> fullNames = getMetadataValues(item, FULLNAME_FIELDS);
 
-        getAllNameVariants(firstName, lastName, fullNames)
+        getAllNameVariants(firstName, lastName, fullNames, item.getID().toString())
             .forEach(variant -> addIndexValue(document, variant));
     }
 
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtil.java b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtil.java
index 0e88a0a9cdf5..cea02c76990b 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtil.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/main/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtil.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.collections4.iterators.PermutationIterator;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
 
 /**
  * Utility class that handle person names.
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@
  *
  */
 public final class PersonNameUtil {
+    private static Logger log = org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager.getLogger(PersonNameUtil.class);
 
     private PersonNameUtil() {
 
@@ -35,12 +37,14 @@ private PersonNameUtil() {
      * @param  firstName the first name
      * @param  lastName  the last name
      * @param  fullNames the full names
+     * @param  uuid      the uuid
      * @return           all the variants of the given names
      */
-    public static Set<String> getAllNameVariants(String firstName, String lastName, List<String> fullNames) {
+    public static Set<String> getAllNameVariants(String firstName, String lastName, List<String> fullNames,
+                                                 String uuid) {
         Set<String> variants = new HashSet<String>();
         variants.addAll(getNameVariants(firstName, lastName));
-        variants.addAll(getNameVariants(fullNames));
+        variants.addAll(getNameVariants(fullNames, uuid));
         return variants;
     }
 
@@ -95,24 +99,30 @@ private static List<String> getNameVariants(String[] firstNames, String lastName
         return variants;
     }
 
-    private static List<String> getNameVariants(List<String> fullNames) {
+    private static List<String> getNameVariants(List<String> fullNames, String uuid) {
         return fullNames.stream()
             .filter(Objects::nonNull)
             .map(name -> removeComma(name))
             .distinct()
-            .flatMap(name -> getAllNamePermutations(name).stream())
+            .flatMap(name -> getAllNamePermutations(name, uuid).stream())
             .distinct()
             .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
 
-    private static List<String> getAllNamePermutations(String name) {
+    private static List<String> getAllNamePermutations(String name, String uuid) {
 
         List<String> namePermutations = new ArrayList<String>();
 
-        PermutationIterator<String> permutationIterator = new PermutationIterator<String>(List.of(name.split(" ")));
+        List<String> names = List.of(name.split(" "));
+        if (names.size() < 5) {
+            PermutationIterator<String> permutationIterator = new PermutationIterator<String>(names);
 
-        while (permutationIterator.hasNext()) {
-            namePermutations.add(String.join(" ", permutationIterator.next()));
+            while (permutationIterator.hasNext()) {
+                namePermutations.add(String.join(" ", permutationIterator.next()));
+            }
+        } else {
+            log.warn(String.format("Cannot retrieve variants on the Person with UUID %s because the name is too long",
+                    uuid));
         }
 
         return namePermutations;
diff --git a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtilTest.java b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtilTest.java
index fe80bf143756..c0c5a0c02194 100644
--- a/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtilTest.java
+++ b/dspace-api/src/test/java/org/dspace/util/PersonNameUtilTest.java
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ public class PersonNameUtilTest {
     @Test
     public void testWithAllNames() {
 
-        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("Luca", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, Luca", "Luke Giammo"));
+        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("Luca", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, Luca",
+                        "Luke Giammo"), "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca", "Luca Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni L.", "L. Giamminonni", "Giamminonni L", "L Giamminonni", "Luke Giammo", "Giammo Luke"));
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ public void testWithAllNames() {
     public void testWithFirstNameComposedByTwoNames() {
 
         Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("Luca Paolo", "Giamminonni",
-            List.of("Giamminonni, Luca", "Luke Giammo"));
+            List.of("Giamminonni, Luca", "Luke Giammo"), "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca Paolo", "Luca Paolo Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni Luca", "Luca Giamminonni", "Giamminonni Paolo", "Paolo Giamminonni",
@@ -51,7 +52,7 @@ public void testWithFirstNameComposedByTwoNames() {
     public void testWithFirstNameComposedByThreeNames() {
 
         Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("Luca Paolo Claudio", "Giamminonni",
-            List.of("Giamminonni, Luca", "Luke Giammo"));
+            List.of("Giamminonni, Luca", "Luke Giammo"), "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca Paolo Claudio", "Luca Paolo Claudio Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni Luca Claudio", "Luca Claudio Giamminonni", "Giamminonni Paolo Claudio",
@@ -69,7 +70,8 @@ public void testWithFirstNameComposedByThreeNames() {
     @Test
     public void testWithoutFirstAndLastName() {
 
-        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants(null, null, List.of("Giamminonni, Luca Fabio", "Luke Giammo"));
+        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants(null, null, List.of("Giamminonni, Luca Fabio", "Luke Giammo"),
+                "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca Fabio", "Fabio Luca Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni Fabio Luca", "Luca Fabio Giamminonni", "Luca Giamminonni Fabio",
@@ -80,12 +82,13 @@ public void testWithoutFirstAndLastName() {
     @Test
     public void testWithAlreadyTruncatedName() {
 
-        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("L.", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, Luca"));
+        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("L.", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, Luca"),
+                "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca", "Luca Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni L.", "L. Giamminonni", "Giamminonni L", "L Giamminonni"));
 
-        variants = getAllNameVariants("L. P.", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, Luca"));
+        variants = getAllNameVariants("L. P.", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, Luca"), "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca", "Luca Giamminonni", "L. Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni L.", "P. Giamminonni", "Giamminonni P.", "Giamminonni L. P.", "L. P. Giamminonni",
@@ -97,7 +100,8 @@ public void testWithAlreadyTruncatedName() {
     @Test
     public void testWithAlreadyTruncatedNameOnFullName() {
 
-        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("Luca", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, L."));
+        Set<String> variants = getAllNameVariants("Luca", "Giamminonni", List.of("Giamminonni, L."),
+                "uuid");
 
         assertThat(variants, containsInAnyOrder("Giamminonni Luca", "Luca Giamminonni",
             "Giamminonni L.", "L. Giamminonni", "Giamminonni L", "L Giamminonni"));