diff --git a/backend/__tests__/dal/user.spec.ts b/backend/__tests__/dal/user.spec.ts
index 779e69618..33697319d 100644
--- a/backend/__tests__/dal/user.spec.ts
+++ b/backend/__tests__/dal/user.spec.ts
@@ -207,7 +207,6 @@ describe("UserDal", () => {
       "", // empty
       " ".repeat(16), // too long
       ".testName", // cant begin with period
-      "miodec", // profanity
       "asdasdAS$", // invalid characters
     ];
 
diff --git a/backend/__tests__/utils/validation.spec.ts b/backend/__tests__/utils/validation.spec.ts
index 7821dac1b..1f5106c44 100644
--- a/backend/__tests__/utils/validation.spec.ts
+++ b/backend/__tests__/utils/validation.spec.ts
@@ -88,14 +88,6 @@ describe("Validation", () => {
 
   it("isUsernameValid", () => {
     const testCases = [
-      {
-        name: "Miodec",
-        expected: false,
-      },
-      {
-        name: "fucker",
-        expected: false,
-      },
       {
         name: "Bruce",
         expected: true,
@@ -124,10 +116,6 @@ describe("Validation", () => {
         name: ".period",
         expected: false,
       },
-      {
-        name: "fucking_profane",
-        expected: false,
-      },
     ];
 
     testCases.forEach((testCase) => {
@@ -141,6 +129,14 @@ describe("Validation", () => {
         text: "https://www.fuckyou.com",
         expected: true,
       },
+      {
+        text: "fucking_profane",
+        expected: true,
+      },
+      {
+        text: "fucker",
+        expected: true,
+      },
       {
         text: "Hello world!",
         expected: false,
@@ -160,7 +156,7 @@ describe("Validation", () => {
     ];
 
     testCases.forEach((testCase) => {
-      expect(Validation.containsProfanity(testCase.text)).toBe(
+      expect(Validation.containsProfanity(testCase.text, "substring")).toBe(
         testCase.expected
       );
     });
diff --git a/backend/src/api/routes/users.ts b/backend/src/api/routes/users.ts
index 4f813b5df..5faaacf72 100644
--- a/backend/src/api/routes/users.ts
+++ b/backend/src/api/routes/users.ts
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ const usernameValidation = joi
   .string()
   .required()
   .custom((value, helpers) => {
-    if (containsProfanity(value)) {
+    if (containsProfanity(value, "substring")) {
       return helpers.error("string.profanity");
     }
 
@@ -531,14 +531,15 @@ const profileDetailsBase = joi
   .string()
   .allow("")
   .custom((value, helpers) => {
-    if (containsProfanity(value)) {
+    if (containsProfanity(value, "word")) {
       return helpers.error("string.profanity");
     }
 
     return value;
   })
   .messages({
-    "string.profanity": "Profanity detected. Please remove it.",
+    "string.profanity":
+      "Profanity detected. Please remove it. (if you believe this is a mistake, please contact us)",
   });
 
 router.patch(
diff --git a/backend/src/dal/user.ts b/backend/src/dal/user.ts
index 688044fa8..d70d96453 100644
--- a/backend/src/dal/user.ts
+++ b/backend/src/dal/user.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import _ from "lodash";
-import { isUsernameValid } from "../utils/validation";
+import { containsProfanity, isUsernameValid } from "../utils/validation";
 import { canFunboxGetPb, checkAndUpdatePb } from "../utils/pb";
 import * as db from "../init/db";
 import MonkeyError from "../utils/error";
@@ -113,6 +113,9 @@ export async function updateName(
   if (!isUsernameValid(name)) {
     throw new MonkeyError(400, "Invalid username");
   }
+  if (containsProfanity(name, "substring")) {
+    throw new MonkeyError(400, "Username contains profanity");
+  }
 
   if (
     name?.toLowerCase() !== previousName?.toLowerCase() &&
diff --git a/backend/src/utils/validation.ts b/backend/src/utils/validation.ts
index 6120130a0..26ee57e2a 100644
--- a/backend/src/utils/validation.ts
+++ b/backend/src/utils/validation.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import _ from "lodash";
 import { replaceHomoglyphs } from "../constants/homoglyphs";
-import { profanities, regexProfanities } from "../constants/profanities";
-import { intersect, matchesAPattern, sanitizeString } from "./misc";
+import { profanities } from "../constants/profanities";
+import { intersect, sanitizeString } from "./misc";
 import { default as FunboxList } from "../constants/funbox-list";
 
 export function inRange(value: number, min: number, max: number): boolean {
@@ -22,17 +22,13 @@ export function isUsernameValid(name: string): boolean {
     return false;
   }
 
-  const isProfanity = profanities.some((profanity) =>
-    normalizedName.includes(profanity)
-  );
-  if (isProfanity) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
   return VALID_NAME_PATTERN.test(name);
 }
 
-export function containsProfanity(text: string): boolean {
+export function containsProfanity(
+  text: string,
+  mode: "word" | "substring"
+): boolean {
   const normalizedText = text
     .toLowerCase()
     .split(/[.,"/#!?$%^&*;:{}=\-_`~()\s\n]+/g)
@@ -40,9 +36,11 @@ export function containsProfanity(text: string): boolean {
       return replaceHomoglyphs(sanitizeString(str) ?? "");
     });
 
-  const hasProfanity = regexProfanities.some((profanity) => {
+  const hasProfanity = profanities.some((profanity) => {
     return normalizedText.some((word) => {
-      return matchesAPattern(word, profanity);
+      return mode === "word"
+        ? word.startsWith(profanity)
+        : word.includes(profanity);
     });
   });