diff --git a/compiler/parser/parser.cpp b/compiler/parser/parser.cpp
index 3d9665b42fb4..755571e44228 100644
--- a/compiler/parser/parser.cpp
+++ b/compiler/parser/parser.cpp
@@ -331,19 +331,23 @@ static void parseCommandLineFiles() {
     if (isChplSource(inputFileName))
     {
       /*
-      Ensure that all the files parsed don't exceed the
-      (NAME_MAX - 16) i.e. 239 bytes Limits
+      Selection of 16 is did so as to provide
+      enough space for generating files like .tmp.obj
+      whose length is 8 so selection of double the required
       */
-      const size_t maxFileName = NAME_MAX - 16;
+      const size_t reductionMaxLength = 16;
+      /*
+      Ensure that all the files parsed don't exceed
+      (NAME_MAX - reductionMaxLength) e.g. 239 bytes on
+      unix and linux system.
+      */
+      const size_t maxFileName = NAME_MAX - reductionMaxLength;
       if (strlen(inputFileName) > maxFileName)
       {
-        char reducedFileName[maxFileName];
-        // sprintf fileName to allowed length buffer
-        strncpy(reducedFileName, inputFileName, maxFileName);
-        // error message to print between filename and filename limit
+        // error message to print placeholders for fileName and maxLength
         const char *errorMessage = "%s, filename is longer than maximum allowed length of %d\n";
         // throwr error will concatenated messages
-        USR_FATAL(errorMessage, reducedFileName, maxFileName);
+        USR_FATAL(errorMessage, inputFileName, maxFileName);
       }
       parseFile(inputFileName, MOD_USER, true, false);
     }
diff --git a/test/parsing/errors/nameLength/longName.precomp b/test/parsing/errors/nameLength/longName.precomp
index 829e9d41eabb..6d7da1e83902 100755
--- a/test/parsing/errors/nameLength/longName.precomp
+++ b/test/parsing/errors/nameLength/longName.precomp
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 NAME_MAX=`getconf NAME_MAX /`
-NAME_MAX=$((NAME_MAX - 15))
-LIMIT=$((NAME_MAX - 1))
+REDUCTIONMAXLENGTH=16
+LIMIT=$((NAME_MAX - REDUCTIONMAXLENGTH))
+OUTOFBOUND=$((LIMIT + 1))
 VAL="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" &> /dev/null && pwd )"
 
 repeatChar() {
@@ -12,10 +13,9 @@ repeatChar() {
     printf '%s\n' "${myString// /$input}"
 }
 
-FILENAME=$(repeatChar a $NAME_MAX)
+FILENAME=$(repeatChar a $OUTOFBOUND)
 printf 'module LongName {\n\tfunc printSomething() {\n\t\twrite(%s); \n\t}\n}' "'Won't Compile'" > $VAL/$FILENAME.chpl
 touch $VAL/$FILENAME.notest
 printf 'require %s;' "'$FILENAME.chpl'" > $VAL/longNameHelper.chpl
 touch $VAL/longNameHelper.notest
-FILENAME=$(repeatChar a $LIMIT)
-printf "error: %s, filename is longer than maximum allowed length of %d\n\n" $FILENAME $LIMIT > $VAL/longName.good
+printf "error: %s, filename is longer than maximum allowed length of %d\n\n" $FILENAME.chpl $LIMIT > $VAL/longName.good