diff --git a/backend/internal/account/account.go b/backend/internal/account/account.go
index 816ba4b..2c79cda 100644
--- a/backend/internal/account/account.go
+++ b/backend/internal/account/account.go
@@ -207,10 +207,11 @@ type provisionSeed struct {
 
 // telegramSeed derives the create-time seed from Telegram launch fields: a
 // supported preferred language from languageCode (an ISO-639 code, possibly
-// region-tagged like "ru-RU"), and a display name sanitized from firstName or,
-// failing that, username (sanitizeDisplayName strips disallowed characters to the
-// editable format). When neither yields any letters, it falls back to a generated
-// placeholder in the seeded language (placeholderDisplayName).
+// region-tagged like "ru-RU"), and a display name. The name precedence is the real
+// name (firstName, sanitized to the editable format) → the @username taken verbatim
+// (already a valid handle, only trimmed and length-capped, never character-stripped)
+// → a generated placeholder in the seeded language (placeholderDisplayName), reached
+// only when firstName has no usable letters and no username is set.
 func telegramSeed(languageCode, username, firstName string) provisionSeed {
 	var seed provisionSeed
 	if lang, _, _ := strings.Cut(strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(languageCode)), "-"); lang == "en" || lang == "ru" {
@@ -218,7 +219,13 @@ func telegramSeed(languageCode, username, firstName string) provisionSeed {
 	}
 	name := sanitizeDisplayName(firstName)
 	if name == "" {
-		name = sanitizeDisplayName(username)
+		// The real name yielded nothing usable: fall back to the @username verbatim
+		// (Telegram guarantees a valid handle), only trimmed and capped to the column
+		// width — never character-stripped like the real name.
+		name = strings.TrimSpace(username)
+		if r := []rune(name); len(r) > maxDisplayName {
+			name = strings.TrimRight(string(r[:maxDisplayName]), " ")
+		}
 	}
 	if name == "" {
 		name = placeholderDisplayName(seed.preferredLanguage)
diff --git a/backend/internal/account/provision_test.go b/backend/internal/account/provision_test.go
index afa08a9..ea63490 100644
--- a/backend/internal/account/provision_test.go
+++ b/backend/internal/account/provision_test.go
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ import (
 
 // TestTelegramSeed covers the pure mapping from Telegram launch fields to the
 // create-time account seed: supported-language detection (bare and region-tagged),
-// the first-name / username display-name precedence, and the sanitization that
-// strips disallowed characters (emoji, digits, punctuation) to the editable format.
+// the real-name → @username (verbatim) → placeholder display-name precedence, and
+// the sanitization of the real name (emoji, digits, punctuation stripped to the
+// editable format). The username, when used, is kept verbatim.
 func TestTelegramSeed(t *testing.T) {
 	cases := map[string]struct {
 		languageCode, username, firstName string
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ func TestTelegramSeed(t *testing.T) {
 		"punct to space":      {"en", "user", "John❤Doe", "en", "John Doe"},
 		"digits dropped":      {"ru", "user", "Маша123", "ru", "Маша"},
 		"garbage to username": {"en", "good", "123!@#", "en", "good"},
+		"username verbatim":   {"en", "co_ol99", "🎮🎮", "en", "co_ol99"},
 	}
 	for name, tc := range cases {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -49,10 +51,10 @@ func TestTelegramSeedPlaceholder(t *testing.T) {
 		languageCode, username, firstName string
 		wantRe                            string
 	}{
-		"en empty":     {"en", "", "", `^Player-\d{5}$`},
-		"ru empty":     {"ru", "", "", `^Игрок-\d{5}$`},
-		"default en":   {"fr", "", "", `^Player-\d{5}$`},
-		"both garbage": {"ru", "123", "!!!", `^Игрок-\d{5}$`},
+		"en empty":                  {"en", "", "", `^Player-\d{5}$`},
+		"ru empty":                  {"ru", "", "", `^Игрок-\d{5}$`},
+		"default en":                {"fr", "", "", `^Player-\d{5}$`},
+		"name garbage, no username": {"ru", "", "!!!", `^Игрок-\d{5}$`},
 	}
 	for name, tc := range cases {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {