diff --git a/protocol/identity/alias/generate.go b/protocol/identity/alias/generate.go
index 8c175142a..9e817e29c 100644
--- a/protocol/identity/alias/generate.go
+++ b/protocol/identity/alias/generate.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"crypto/ecdsa"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/status-im/status-go/eth-node/crypto"
 )
@@ -31,7 +32,8 @@ func GenerateFromPublicKey(publicKey *ecdsa.PublicKey) string {
 // GenerateFromPublicKeyString returns the 3 words name given a public key
 // prefixed with 0x
 func GenerateFromPublicKeyString(publicKeyString string) (string, error) {
-	publicKeyBytes, err := hex.DecodeString(publicKeyString[2:])
+	pk := strings.TrimPrefix(publicKeyString, "0x")
+	publicKeyBytes, err := hex.DecodeString(pk)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
diff --git a/protocol/identity/alias/generate_test.go b/protocol/identity/alias/generate_test.go
index 77638934d..bf8dc1247 100644
--- a/protocol/identity/alias/generate_test.go
+++ b/protocol/identity/alias/generate_test.go
@@ -15,10 +15,47 @@ func TestGenerate(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestGenerateFromPublicKeyString(t *testing.T) {
-	pk := "0x04eedbaafd6adf4a9233a13e7b1c3c14461fffeba2e9054b8d456ce5f6ebeafadcbf3dce3716253fbc391277fa5a086b60b283daf61fb5b1f26895f456c2f31ae3"
+	tests := []struct {
+		name          string
+		publicKey     string
+		alias         string
+		errorExpected bool
+	}{
+		{
+			name:          "valid public key - start with 0x",
+			publicKey:     "0x04eedbaafd6adf4a9233a13e7b1c3c14461fffeba2e9054b8d456ce5f6ebeafadcbf3dce3716253fbc391277fa5a086b60b283daf61fb5b1f26895f456c2f31ae3",
+			alias:         "Darkorange Blue Bubblefish",
+			errorExpected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "valid public key - without 0x",
+			publicKey:     "04eedbaafd6adf4a9233a13e7b1c3c14461fffeba2e9054b8d456ce5f6ebeafadcbf3dce3716253fbc391277fa5a086b60b283daf61fb5b1f26895f456c2f31ae3",
+			alias:         "Darkorange Blue Bubblefish",
+			errorExpected: false,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "invalid public key",
+			publicKey:     "0x04eedbaafd6adf4a9233a13e7b1c3c14461fffeba2e9054b8d456ce5f6ebeafadcbf3dce3716253fbc391277fa5a086b",
+			alias:         "",
+			errorExpected: true,
+		},
+		{
+			name:          "empty public key",
+			publicKey:     "",
+			alias:         "",
+			errorExpected: true,
+		},
+	}
 
-	name, err := GenerateFromPublicKeyString(pk)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	require.NotNil(t, name)
-	require.Equal(t, "Darkorange Blue Bubblefish", name)
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			name, err := GenerateFromPublicKeyString(tt.publicKey)
+			if tt.errorExpected {
+				require.Error(t, err)
+			} else {
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+			}
+			require.Equal(t, tt.alias, name)
+		})
+	}
 }