diff --git a/src/newusers.c b/src/newusers.c
index 8e7c620d..8c882100 100644
--- a/src/newusers.c
+++ b/src/newusers.c
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ static int add_user (const char *name, uid_t uid, gid_t gid)
 	/* Check if this is a valid user name */
 	if (!is_valid_user_name (name)) {
 		fprintf (stderr,
-		         _("%s: invalid user name '%s'\n"),
+		         _("%s: invalid user name '%s': use --badname to ignore\n"),
 		         Prog, name);
 		return -1;
 	}
diff --git a/src/pwck.c b/src/pwck.c
index 22b1fdcd..058a240e 100644
--- a/src/pwck.c
+++ b/src/pwck.c
@@ -470,7 +470,8 @@ static void check_pw_file (int *errors, bool *changed)
 		 */
 
 		if (!is_valid_user_name (pwd->pw_name)) {
-			printf (_("invalid user name '%s'\n"), pwd->pw_name);
+			printf (_("invalid user name '%s': use --badname to ignore\n"),
+					pwd->pw_name);
 			*errors += 1;
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/usermod.c b/src/usermod.c
index af2208be..459d8acf 100644
--- a/src/usermod.c
+++ b/src/usermod.c
@@ -1095,7 +1095,7 @@ static void process_flags (int argc, char **argv)
 			case 'l':
 				if (!is_valid_user_name (optarg)) {
 					fprintf (stderr,
-					         _("%s: invalid user name '%s'\n"),
+					         _("%s: invalid user name '%s': use --badname to ignore\n"),
 					         Prog, optarg);
 					exit (E_BAD_ARG);
 				}