diff --git a/awsimple/__version__.py b/awsimple/__version__.py
index 0a695ee..ccb4dd0 100644
--- a/awsimple/__version__.py
+++ b/awsimple/__version__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 __application_name__ = "awsimple"
 __title__ = __application_name__
 __author__ = "abel"
-__version__ = "4.2.0"
+__version__ = "5.0.0"
 __author_email__ = "j@abel.co"
 __url__ = "https://github.com/jamesabel/awsimple"
 __download_url__ = "https://github.com/jamesabel/awsimple"
diff --git a/awsimple/pubsub.py b/awsimple/pubsub.py
index 6093a75..b1d6256 100644
--- a/awsimple/pubsub.py
+++ b/awsimple/pubsub.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 from typeguard import typechecked
 from botocore.exceptions import ClientError
+import strif
 
 from .sns import SNSAccess
 from .sqs import SQSPollAccess, get_all_sqs_queues
@@ -121,17 +122,17 @@ def run(self):
 
 
 @lru_cache
-def make_name_aws_safe(name: str) -> str:
+def make_name_aws_safe(*args: str) -> str:
     """
-    Make a name safe for an SQS queue to subscribe to an SNS topic.
+    Make a name safe for an SQS queue to subscribe to an SNS topic. AWS has a bunch of undocumented restrictions on names, so we just hash the name to a base36 string.
 
-    :param name: input name
+    :params: input name(s)
     :return: AWS safe name
     """
-    safe_name = "".join([c for c in name.strip().lower() if c.isalnum()])  # only allow alphanumeric characters
-    if len(safe_name) < 1:
-        raise ValueError(f'"{name}" is not valid after making AWS safe - result must contain at least one alphanumeric character.')
-    return safe_name
+
+    base36 = strif.hash_string("".join(args)).base36
+    assert len(base36) == 31
+    return base36
 
 
 class PubSub(Process):
@@ -155,9 +156,10 @@ def __init__(
         :param node_name: Node name (SQS queue name suffix). Defaults to a combination of computer name and username, but can be passed in for customization and/or testing.
         :param sub_callback: Optional thread and process safe callback function to be called when a new message is received. The function should accept a single argument, which will be the message as a dictionary.
         """
-
-        self.channel = "ps" + make_name_aws_safe(channel)  # prefix with ps (pubsub) to avoid collisions with other uses of SNS topics and SQS queues
-        self.node_name = make_name_aws_safe(node_name)
+        self.aws_resource_prefix = "ps"  # for pubsub
+        self.channel = self.aws_resource_prefix + make_name_aws_safe(channel)  # prefix with ps (pubsub) to avoid collisions with other uses of SNS topics and SQS queues
+        self.node_name = node_name
+        self.sqs_queue_name = self.aws_resource_prefix + make_name_aws_safe(self.channel, self.node_name)
         self.sub_callback = sub_callback
 
         self.profile_name = profile_name
@@ -174,8 +176,6 @@ def __init__(
 
     def run(self):
 
-        sqs_queue_name = f"{self.channel}{self.node_name}"
-
         sns = SNSAccess(
             self.channel,
             auto_create=True,
@@ -185,11 +185,16 @@ def run(self):
             region_name=self.region_name,
         )
         sqs_metadata = _DynamoDBMetadataTable(
-            sqs_name, sqs_queue_name, profile_name=self.profile_name, aws_access_key_id=self.aws_access_key_id, aws_secret_access_key=self.aws_secret_access_key, region_name=self.region_name
+            sqs_name,
+            self.sqs_queue_name,
+            profile_name=self.profile_name,
+            aws_access_key_id=self.aws_access_key_id,
+            aws_secret_access_key=self.aws_secret_access_key,
+            region_name=self.region_name,
         )
 
         sqs = SQSPollAccess(
-            sqs_queue_name, profile_name=self.profile_name, aws_access_key_id=self.aws_access_key_id, aws_secret_access_key=self.aws_secret_access_key, region_name=self.region_name
+            self.sqs_queue_name, profile_name=self.profile_name, aws_access_key_id=self.aws_access_key_id, aws_secret_access_key=self.aws_secret_access_key, region_name=self.region_name
         )
         if not sqs.exists():
             sqs.create_queue()
diff --git a/requirements-dev.txt b/requirements-dev.txt
index fe1bbdc..af02155 100644
--- a/requirements-dev.txt
+++ b/requirements-dev.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ tobool
 urllib3
 python-dateutil
 yasf
+strif
 #
 # examples
 ismain
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 85c5b3a..c880807 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     keywords=["aws", "cloud", "storage", "database", "dynamodb", "s3"],
     packages=[__title__],
     package_data={__title__: [readme_file_path, "py.typed"]},
-    install_requires=["boto3", "typeguard", "hashy>=0.1.1", "dictim", "appdirs", "tobool", "urllib3", "python-dateutil", "yasf"],
+    install_requires=["boto3", "typeguard", "hashy>=0.1.1", "dictim", "appdirs", "tobool", "urllib3", "python-dateutil", "yasf", "strif"],
     project_urls={"Documentation": "https://awsimple.readthedocs.io/"},
     classifiers=[],
     python_requires=">3.10",
diff --git a/test_awsimple/test_pubsub/test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe.py b/test_awsimple/test_pubsub/test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6104f8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test_awsimple/test_pubsub/test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from awsimple.pubsub import make_name_aws_safe
+
+
+def test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe():
+
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("My Topic Name!") == "lc6dwk3bn32n6upqpos4ryluxluxsvd"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("Topic@123") == "jwxskzojw9o2717rs24rtwqgy50v4yn"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("with.a.dot") == "boo0z8dyxiirijsg69qg4g2yg3tsd7w"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("a_6.3") == "d4gg6yrpd2pieqhchpz2qlc7a52shxy"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("-5") == "dk1zux1ndufnok5x2v4uj3flwtzxpr6"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("0") == "lasw0dw8dpjcoalne79l4km57y91kwc"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("Valid_Name-123") == "5fpq80the6qly6weat39tnh57x8bjhm"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("Invalid#Name$With%Special&Chars*") == "jbudqy4oq2aqhcxgs40b0nmahou3pgq"
+
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("ab") == "phbce4exwcst2t3d0hqd8k81nc27kd8"
+    assert make_name_aws_safe("a", "b") == "phbce4exwcst2t3d0hqd8k81nc27kd8"
diff --git a/test_awsimple/test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe.py b/test_awsimple/test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe.py
deleted file mode 100644
index ca3170d..0000000
--- a/test_awsimple/test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-import pytest
-
-from awsimple.pubsub import make_name_aws_safe
-
-
-def test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe():
-
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("My Topic Name!") == "mytopicname"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("Topic@123") == "topic123"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("with.a.dot") == "withadot"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("a_6.3") == "a63"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("-5") == "5"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("0") == "0"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("Valid_Name-123") == "validname123"
-    assert make_name_aws_safe("Invalid#Name$With%Special&Chars*") == "invalidnamewithspecialchars"
-
-
-def test_pubsub_make_name_aws_safe_empty():
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
-        assert make_name_aws_safe("!!!") == ""
-
-    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
-        assert make_name_aws_safe(".") == ""