diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/validation.go b/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
index 105b9e28fe9..29d052abd3c 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/validation.go
@@ -32,18 +32,18 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 )
 
-const cIdentifierErrorMsg string = "must match regex " + util.CIdentifierFmt
-const isNegativeErrorMsg string = "value must not be negative"
+const cIdentifierErrorMsg string = `must be a C identifier (matching regex ` + util.CIdentifierFmt + `): e.g. "my_name" or "MyName"`
+const isNegativeErrorMsg string = `must be non-negative`
 
 func intervalErrorMsg(lo, hi int) string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("must be greater than %d and less than %d", lo, hi)
+	return fmt.Sprintf(`must be greater than %d and less than %d`, lo, hi)
 }
 
-var labelValueErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf("must have at most %d characters and match regex %s", util.LabelValueMaxLength, util.LabelValueFmt)
-var qualifiedNameErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf("must have at most %d characters and match regex %s, with an optional DNS prefix", util.QualifiedNameMaxLength, util.QualifiedNameFmt)
-var dnsSubdomainErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf("must have at most %d characters and match regex %s", util.DNS1123SubdomainMaxLength, util.DNS1123SubdomainFmt)
-var dns1123LabelErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf("must have at most %d characters and match regex %s", util.DNS1123LabelMaxLength, util.DNS1123LabelFmt)
-var dns952LabelErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf("must have at most %d characters and match regex %s", util.DNS952LabelMaxLength, util.DNS952LabelFmt)
+var labelValueErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf(`must have at most %d characters, matching regex %s: e.g. "MyValue" or ""`, util.LabelValueMaxLength, util.LabelValueFmt)
+var qualifiedNameErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf(`must be a qualified name (at most %d characters, matching regex %s), with an optional DNS subdomain prefix (at most %d characters, matching regex %s) and slash (/): e.g. "MyName" or "example.com/MyName"`, util.QualifiedNameMaxLength, util.QualifiedNameFmt, util.DNS1123SubdomainMaxLength, util.DNS1123SubdomainFmt)
+var dnsSubdomainErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf(`must be a DNS subdomain (at most %d characters, matching regex %s): e.g. "example.com"`, util.DNS1123SubdomainMaxLength, util.DNS1123SubdomainFmt)
+var dns1123LabelErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf(`must be a DNS label (at most %d characters, matching regex %s): e.g. "my-name"`, util.DNS1123LabelMaxLength, util.DNS1123LabelFmt)
+var dns952LabelErrorMsg string = fmt.Sprintf(`must be a DNS 952 label (at most %d characters, matching regex %s): e.g. "my-name"`, util.DNS952LabelMaxLength, util.DNS952LabelFmt)
 var pdPartitionErrorMsg string = intervalErrorMsg(0, 255)
 var portRangeErrorMsg string = intervalErrorMsg(0, 65536)
 
diff --git a/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go
index 2d61d86ea0e..528659a501b 100644
--- a/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -544,7 +544,7 @@ func TestValidateEnv(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:          "name not a C identifier",
 			envs:          []api.EnvVar{{Name: "a.b.c"}},
-			expectedError: "[0].name: invalid value 'a.b.c': must match regex [A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*",
+			expectedError: `[0].name: invalid value 'a.b.c': must be a C identifier (matching regex [A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*): e.g. "my_name" or "MyName"`,
 		},
 		{
 			name: "value and valueFrom specified",
@@ -2413,10 +2413,6 @@ func TestValidateServiceUpdate(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestValidateResourceNames(t *testing.T) {
-	longString := "a"
-	for i := 0; i < 6; i++ {
-		longString += longString
-	}
 	table := []struct {
 		input   string
 		success bool
@@ -2432,7 +2428,8 @@ func TestValidateResourceNames(t *testing.T) {
 		{"my.favorite.app.co/_12345", false},
 		{"my.favorite.app.co/12345_", false},
 		{"kubernetes.io/..", false},
-		{"kubernetes.io/" + longString, true},
+		{"kubernetes.io/" + strings.Repeat("a", 63), true},
+		{"kubernetes.io/" + strings.Repeat("a", 64), false},
 		{"kubernetes.io//", false},
 		{"kubernetes.io", false},
 		{"kubernetes.io/will/not/work/", false},