diff --git a/docs/languages/r-provider.md b/docs/languages/r-provider.md
index 3ca36597c..60e6000d6 100644
--- a/docs/languages/r-provider.md
+++ b/docs/languages/r-provider.md
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ Not modelled:
   - a function that is also assigned with `<<-` or `->>` anywhere in the indexed R sources (`ambiguous_reference`, as the top-level form already was): the global re-assignment is a second definition that a rename would leave behind;
   - a package function under `R/` that the index did not prove private, because `NAMESPACE` is not an indexed source and its entry would go stale. The rename tool reads the indexed `isExported` flag, which is false only for a function that a `NAMESPACE` file beside the package leaves out of `export()`, `exportPattern()` and `S3method()` (the third argument of `S3method(generic, class, method)` counts). A private package function is renamed; an exported one is refused; so is a function in a package with no `NAMESPACE` file, or in an `R/` folder that belongs to no package, where the index keeps the default public flag.
 - **Refused by the shared engine (fail-closed, not provider code):** S3 methods and any dotted function name (`area.circle` reads as an owner-qualified member, so `stale_graph`); S4 class names (`unsupported_occurrence`, no exact source-name span).
-- **Invalid names (`invalid_name`):** anything that is not a nonreserved R identifier. Backtick-quoting a new name is never offered: a name that needs it is refused rather than quoted at every use.
+- **Invalid names (`invalid_name`):** anything that is not a nonreserved R identifier: the reserved words, `...` and `..1`, `..2`, ..., and any name with a non-ASCII character, because new names are limited to ASCII letters, digits, `.` and `_` (conservative by design; the message says so). An old name made only of non-ASCII characters (`λ`) is refused as not a supported identifier. Backtick-quoting a new name is never offered: a name that needs it is refused rather than quoted at every use.
 - **Not proven:** unqualified calls to a function defined in another file (including the package `R/` layout) fail with `ambiguous_reference`, because R's global-name fallback is not a provable binding. Renaming across files works only where the call is qualified or otherwise resolved.
 
 ## Type annotations
diff --git a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/languages/r/rename.ts b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/languages/r/rename.ts
index bca9efc1b..a0dce03ea 100644
--- a/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/languages/r/rename.ts
+++ b/gitnexus/src/core/ingestion/languages/r/rename.ts
@@ -350,6 +350,19 @@ const parseNames = createTreeSitterRenameSource({
 export const rRenameProvider: RenameProvider = {
   canonicalName: rBareName,
   validateName(name) {
+    // `...`, `..1`, `..2`, ... refer to the arguments passed down to a function; R reserves them.
+    if (name === '...' || /^\.\.[0-9]+$/.test(name))
+      return {
+        code: 'invalid_name',
+        message:
+          'Choose a valid nonreserved R identifier: `...` and `..1`, `..2`, ... are reserved.',
+      };
+    if (/[^\x00-\x7f]/.test(name))
+      return {
+        code: 'invalid_name',
+        message:
+          'Choose a valid nonreserved R identifier. New names are limited to ASCII letters, digits, `.` and `_` (conservative by design).',
+      };
     if (!/^(?:[A-Za-z]|\.(?![0-9]))[A-Za-z0-9._]*$/.test(name) || RESERVED.has(name))
       return { code: 'invalid_name', message: 'Choose a valid nonreserved R identifier.' };
   },
@@ -394,6 +407,12 @@ export const rRenameProvider: RenameProvider = {
       return unsupported(
         'A replacement function (`name<-`) is called as `name(x) <- value`; those calls are not renamed.',
       );
+    // A name made only of non-ASCII characters (`λ`) is an identifier in a UTF-8 session, not an
+    // operator; the provider reads ASCII names only, so it says that rather than "operator".
+    if (/^[^\x00-\x7f]+$/.test(name))
+      return unsupported(
+        'Only ASCII identifiers are renamed; this name is not a supported identifier.',
+      );
     if (isOperatorName(name) || isOperatorName(newName))
       return unsupported(
         'An infix function or operator (`%op%`, `+`) is also written between its operands; those uses are not renamed.',
diff --git a/gitnexus/test/unit/r-rename-names.test.ts b/gitnexus/test/unit/r-rename-names.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5b52f4c9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gitnexus/test/unit/r-rename-names.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/**
+ * The R rename provider's name checks say what is wrong with a name. `...` and `..1` are reserved
+ * in R, so they are not "a collision"; a new name with a non-ASCII character is refused because
+ * the provider reads ASCII identifiers only (conservative by design); an old name made only of
+ * non-ASCII characters (`λ`) is an identifier the provider does not support, not an operator.
+ */
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { rRenameProvider } from '../../src/core/ingestion/languages/r/rename.js';
+import { rIssue } from '../helpers/r-rename-verdict.js';
+
+const check = (name: string): { code: string; message: string } | undefined => {
+  const issue = rRenameProvider.validateName?.(name);
+  return issue ? { code: issue.code, message: issue.message } : undefined;
+};
+
+describe('R rename: validateName', () => {
+  it.each(['...', '..1', '..2', '..10', '..0'])('rejects the reserved name %s', (name) => {
+    const issue = check(name);
+    expect(issue?.code).toBe('invalid_name');
+    expect(issue?.message).toMatch(/reserved/);
+  });
+
+  it.each(['..', '.x', '..x', 'x..1', '.a1', 'helper'])('still accepts %s', (name) => {
+    expect(check(name)).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it.each(['λ', 'café', 'aé', 'x_δ'])('rejects the non-ASCII name %s and says why', (name) => {
+    const issue = check(name);
+    expect(issue?.code).toBe('invalid_name');
+    expect(issue?.message).toMatch(/ASCII/);
+    expect(issue?.message).toMatch(/conservative/);
+  });
+
+  it.each(['1x', '_x', 'a b', 'if', 'NULL', '.1', ''])(
+    'keeps the general message for %s',
+    (name) => {
+      const issue = check(name);
+      expect(issue?.code).toBe('invalid_name');
+      expect(issue?.message).toBe('Choose a valid nonreserved R identifier.');
+    },
+  );
+});
+
+describe('R rename: an old name of non-ASCII characters only', () => {
+  it('is reported as an unsupported identifier, not as an operator', () => {
+    const issue = rIssue({ files: { 'a.R': 'λ <- function(v) v\n' }, target: 'λ', newName: 'lam' });
+    expect(issue?.code).toBe('unsupported_occurrence');
+    expect(issue?.message).toMatch(/not a supported identifier/);
+    expect(issue?.message).not.toMatch(/operator/);
+  });
+
+  it('still reports an operator as an operator', () => {
+    const issue = rIssue({
+      files: { 'a.R': '`+` <- function(a, b) a\n' },
+      target: '`+`',
+      newName: 'f',
+    });
+    expect(issue?.message).toMatch(/operator/);
+  });
+});