diff --git a/ethermess.py b/ethermess.py
index 6c44eb8..b307ba0 100644
--- a/ethermess.py
+++ b/ethermess.py
@@ -552,6 +552,21 @@ def main():
 	proc = subprocess.Popen([libexec_dir + '/ethermess-backend', interface], stdin = subprocess.PIPE, stdout = subprocess.PIPE, stderr = sys.stderr, bufsize = 0)
 
 	# Tell the backend the status and nick
+	try:
+		validate_nick(own_nick)
+
+	except NonCharacterError as err:
+		print('--- Error: contains non-character U+%04X' % ord(err.args[0]))
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+	except ControlCharacterError as err:
+		print('--- Error: contains control character U+%04X' % ord(err.args[0]))
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+	except NickLengthError:
+		print('--- Error: nick too long (max. 255B)')
+		sys.exit(1)
+
 	own_status = statuses.available
 	encoded = own_nick.encode('utf-8')
 	writeall(proc.stdin, bytes([own_status.value, len(encoded)]) + encoded)