diff --git a/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/podRecency.test.ts b/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/podRecency.test.ts
index b55f17c00..caf20a8d1 100644
--- a/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/podRecency.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/v2/__tests__/podRecency.test.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,54 @@ describe('podRecency', () => {
   test('podInitials takes two words, or two letters of one', () => {
     expect(podInitials('Connectors v2')).toBe('CV');
     expect(podInitials('Sharpen')).toBe('SH');
-    expect(podInitials('  Payments — memory demo ')).toBe('P—');
     expect(podInitials('')).toBe('·');
   });
+
+  test('podInitials separates on punctuation and dashes instead of taking them as initials', () => {
+    expect(podInitials('  Payments — memory demo ')).toBe('PM');
+    expect(podInitials('Sharpen — pod model')).toBe('SP');
+    expect(podInitials('Team-Commonly')).toBe('TC');
+    expect(podInitials('—')).toBe('·');
+  });
+
+  test('podInitials shows one glyph when the picked glyph is CJK', () => {
+    expect(podInitials('设计评审')).toBe('设');
+    expect(podInitials('Growth 团队')).toBe('G');
+  });
+
+  test('podInitials cuts every CJK script, not just Han', () => {
+    // Han alone carried the predicate until these existed: dropping any ONE of
+    // the other three scripts from the class left the suite green, so a later
+    // "simplification" to a single script would have gone unnoticed.
+    expect(podInitials('ひらがな')).toBe('ひ');
+    expect(podInitials('カタカナ')).toBe('カ');
+    // Two words on purpose, so first() and the CJK branch are exercised together.
+    expect(podInitials('한국어 팀')).toBe('한');
+  });
+
+  test('podInitials states its scope: a fullwidth-Latin pick is not CJK', () => {
+    // The predicate is a script list and JS \p{…} cannot express
+    // East_Asian_Width, so fullwidth Latin shows both glyphs. Asserted rather
+    // than left in a comment — a known miss a test pins is a decision, and this
+    // assertion belongs in its own test so widening the class relocates it
+    // instead of tripping the CJK test.
+    expect(podInitials('ＡＢＣ')).toBe('ＡＢ');
+  });
+
+  test('podInitials drops an emoji the way it drops punctuation', () => {
+    expect(podInitials('🚀 Launch')).toBe('LA');
+  });
+
+  test('podInitials slices by code point, so a surrogate pair is never cut in half', () => {
+    // Synthetic on purpose: a two-unit slice of 'A𝔘' ends between the halves of
+    // 𝔘 and returns a replacement character, which no real pod name would show.
+    expect(podInitials('A𝔘')).toBe('A𝔘');
+  });
+
+  test('podInitials reads the first code point of each of two words', () => {
+    // Pins the two-word branch's own code-point read. 'A𝔘' above is a single
+    // token, so it only exercises the one-word slice; a UTF-16 read here would
+    // cut 𐐀 in half and return a replacement character.
+    expect(podInitials('𐐀lpha Beta')).toBe('𐐀B');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/frontend/src/v2/lib/podRecency.ts b/frontend/src/v2/lib/podRecency.ts
index 96ef2b9b3..d6136da92 100644
--- a/frontend/src/v2/lib/podRecency.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/v2/lib/podRecency.ts
@@ -57,11 +57,42 @@ export const relativeTime = (value: string | number | Date | null | undefined, n
   return `${Math.floor(delta / YEAR)}y`;
 };
 
+// The mark is 22px with 11px mono characters, so two Han characters wrap to a
+// second line inside the square — that is why a CJK pick is cut to one glyph.
+//
+// This is a SCRIPT list, so the rule it states is a CJK rule and not a width
+// rule. JS `\p{…}` expresses General_Category, Script and binary properties but
+// not East_Asian_Width, so `ＡＢ` (fullwidth Latin, EAW=Fullwidth) is out of
+// scope by decision and shows both glyphs. The 22px sentence above is the
+// motivation for the rule, not a contract this predicate can compute.
+const CJK_SCRIPT = /[\p{Script=Han}\p{Script=Hiragana}\p{Script=Katakana}\p{Script=Hangul}]/u;
+
 // Two-letter mark for a pod without an avatar: initials of the first two words,
 // or the first two letters of a one-word name.
+//
+// Tokenising matches `initialsFor`: the same split, the same [^\p{L}\p{N}]
+// strip and the same filter, so punctuation and dashes separate words instead
+// of becoming initials and "Sharpen — pod model" is SP rather than S—. It does
+// not copy initialsFor's parenthetical drop, deliberately: "(v2)" distinguishes
+// a pod name even though "(lead)" never distinguishes an agent. An emoji drops
+// out the way punctuation does, which is why "🚀 Launch" is LA rather than 🚀L. A
+// name whose picked glyphs are CJK shows one glyph — "设计评审" is 设, not the
+// two characters that would wrap. Code points rather than UTF-16 units
+// throughout, so a surrogate pair is never cut in half.
 export const podInitials = (name: string): string => {
-  const words = (name || '').trim().split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean);
+  const words = String(name || '')
+    .trim()
+    .split(/[\s_\-/|]+/)
+    .map((word) => word.replace(/[^\p{L}\p{N}]/gu, ''))
+    .filter(Boolean);
   if (words.length === 0) return '·';
-  if (words.length === 1) return words[0].slice(0, 2).toUpperCase();
-  return (words[0][0] + words[1][0]).toUpperCase();
+
+  const first = (word: string): string => Array.from(word)[0] || '';
+  const pick = words.length === 1
+    ? Array.from(words[0]).slice(0, 2).join('')
+    : first(words[0]) + first(words[1]);
+
+  const picked = Array.from(pick);
+  if (picked.some((char) => CJK_SCRIPT.test(char))) return picked[0];
+  return pick.toUpperCase();
 };