diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6f7737d3ac..e92fe3b092 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@
     "filehound": "^1.17.4",
     "filenamify": "^4.1.0",
     "fs-extra": "^9.0.1",
+    "grapheme-splitter": "^1.0.4",
     "handlebars": "^4.7.6",
     "http-proxy": "^1.18.1",
     "immer": "^8.0.1",
diff --git a/src/common/utils/index.ts b/src/common/utils/index.ts
index 6f26bab2da..16a077277e 100644
--- a/src/common/utils/index.ts
+++ b/src/common/utils/index.ts
@@ -19,3 +19,6 @@ export * from "./downloadFile";
 export * from "./escapeRegExp";
 export * from "./tar";
 export * from "./type-narrowing";
+import * as iter from "./iter";
+
+export { iter };
diff --git a/src/common/utils/iter.ts b/src/common/utils/iter.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f364ce4aee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/common/utils/iter.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/**
+ * Create a new type safe empty Iterable
+ * @returns An `Iterable` that yields 0 items
+ */
+export function* newEmpty<T>(): Iterable<T> {
+  return;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Creates a new `Iterable` that yields at most n items from src.
+ * Does not modify `src` which can be used later.
+ * @param src An initial iterator
+ * @param n The maximum number of elements to take from src. Yields up to the floor of `n` and 0 items if n < 0
+ */
+export function* take<T>(src: Iterable<T>, n: number): Iterable<T> {
+  outer: for (let i = 0; i < n; i += 1) {
+    for (const item of src) {
+      yield item;
+      continue outer;
+    }
+
+    // if we are here that means that `src` has been exhausted. Don't bother trying again.
+    break outer;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-icon.tsx b/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-icon.tsx
index 91e8685642..0a6b6f56bb 100644
--- a/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-icon.tsx
+++ b/src/renderer/components/hotbar/hotbar-icon.tsx
@@ -2,18 +2,19 @@ import "./hotbar-icon.scss";
 
 import React, { DOMAttributes } from "react";
 import { observer } from "mobx-react";
-import { cssNames, IClassName } from "../../utils";
+import { cssNames, IClassName, iter } from "../../utils";
 import { Tooltip } from "../tooltip";
 import { Avatar } from "@material-ui/core";
 import { CatalogEntity, CatalogEntityContextMenu, CatalogEntityContextMenuContext } from "../../../common/catalog";
 import { Menu, MenuItem } from "../menu";
 import { Icon } from "../icon";
-import { observable } from "mobx";
+import { computed, observable } from "mobx";
 import { navigate } from "../../navigation";
 import { HotbarStore } from "../../../common/hotbar-store";
 import { ConfirmDialog } from "../confirm-dialog";
 import randomColor from "randomcolor";
 import { catalogCategoryRegistry } from "../../api/catalog-category-registry";
+import GraphemeSplitter from "grapheme-splitter";
 
 interface Props extends DOMAttributes<HTMLElement> {
   entity: CatalogEntity;
@@ -23,6 +24,22 @@ interface Props extends DOMAttributes<HTMLElement> {
   isActive?: boolean;
 }
 
+function getNameParts(name: string): string[] {
+  const byWhitespace = name.split(/\s+/);
+
+  if (byWhitespace.length > 1) {
+    return byWhitespace;
+  }
+
+  const byDashes = name.split(/[-_]+/);
+
+  if (byDashes.length > 1) {
+    return byDashes;
+  }
+
+  return name.split(/@+/);
+}
+
 @observer
 export class HotbarIcon extends React.Component<Props> {
   @observable.deep private contextMenu: CatalogEntityContextMenuContext;
@@ -35,26 +52,18 @@ export class HotbarIcon extends React.Component<Props> {
     };
   }
 
-  get iconString() {
-    let splittedName = this.props.entity.metadata.name.split(" ");
+  @computed get iconString() {
+    const [rawFirst, rawSecond, rawThird] = getNameParts(this.props.entity.metadata.name);
+    const splitter = new GraphemeSplitter();
+    const first = splitter.iterateGraphemes(rawFirst);
+    const second = rawSecond ? splitter.iterateGraphemes(rawSecond): first;
+    const third = rawThird ? splitter.iterateGraphemes(rawThird) : iter.newEmpty();
 
-    if (splittedName.length === 1) {
-      splittedName = splittedName[0].split("-");
-    }
-
-    if (splittedName.length === 1) {
-      splittedName = splittedName[0].split("@");
-    }
-
-    splittedName = splittedName.map((part) => part.replace(/\W/g, ""));
-
-    if (splittedName.length === 1) {
-      return splittedName[0].substring(0, 2);
-    } else if (splittedName.length === 2) {
-      return splittedName[0].substring(0, 1) + splittedName[1].substring(0, 1);
-    } else {
-      return splittedName[0].substring(0, 1) + splittedName[1].substring(0, 1) + splittedName[2].substring(0, 1);
-    }
+    return [
+      ...iter.take(first, 1),
+      ...iter.take(second, 1),
+      ...iter.take(third, 1),
+    ].filter(Boolean).join("");
   }
 
   get badgeIcon() {
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index e23b90d0a3..cddedb6c2e 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -6583,7 +6583,7 @@ graceful-fs@^4.1.0, graceful-fs@^4.1.11, graceful-fs@^4.1.15, graceful-fs@^4.1.2
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/graceful-readlink/-/graceful-readlink-1.0.1.tgz#4cafad76bc62f02fa039b2f94e9a3dd3a391a725"
   integrity sha1-TK+tdrxi8C+gObL5Tpo906ORpyU=
 
-grapheme-splitter@^1.0.2:
+grapheme-splitter@^1.0.2, grapheme-splitter@^1.0.4:
   version "1.0.4"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/grapheme-splitter/-/grapheme-splitter-1.0.4.tgz#9cf3a665c6247479896834af35cf1dbb4400767e"
   integrity sha512-bzh50DW9kTPM00T8y4o8vQg89Di9oLJVLW/KaOGIXJWP/iqCN6WKYkbNOF04vFLJhwcpYUh9ydh/+5vpOqV4YQ==