diff --git a/reference.go b/reference.go
index e07c43c..ae02ee8 100644
--- a/reference.go
+++ b/reference.go
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	// NameTotalLengthMax is the maximum total number of characters in a repository name.
-	NameTotalLengthMax = 255
+	// RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax is the maximum total number of characters in a repository name.
+	RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax = 255
 )
 
 var (
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ var (
 	// ErrNameEmpty is returned for empty, invalid repository names.
 	ErrNameEmpty = errors.New("repository name must have at least one component")
 
-	// ErrNameTooLong is returned when a repository name is longer than NameTotalLengthMax.
-	ErrNameTooLong = fmt.Errorf("repository name must not be more than %v characters", NameTotalLengthMax)
+	// ErrNameTooLong is returned when a repository name is longer than RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax.
+	ErrNameTooLong = fmt.Errorf("repository name must not be more than %v characters", RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax)
 
 	// ErrNameNotCanonical is returned when a name is not canonical.
 	ErrNameNotCanonical = errors.New("repository name must be canonical")
@@ -190,10 +190,6 @@ func Parse(s string) (Reference, error) {
 		return nil, ErrReferenceInvalidFormat
 	}
 
-	if len(matches[1]) > NameTotalLengthMax {
-		return nil, ErrNameTooLong
-	}
-
 	var repo repository
 
 	nameMatch := anchoredNameRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(matches[1])
@@ -205,6 +201,10 @@ func Parse(s string) (Reference, error) {
 		repo.path = matches[1]
 	}
 
+	if len(repo.path) > RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax {
+		return nil, ErrNameTooLong
+	}
+
 	ref := reference{
 		namedRepository: repo,
 		tag:             matches[2],
@@ -243,18 +243,21 @@ func ParseNamed(s string) (Named, error) {
 // WithName returns a named object representing the given string. If the input
 // is invalid ErrReferenceInvalidFormat will be returned.
 func WithName(name string) (Named, error) {
-	if len(name) > NameTotalLengthMax {
-		return nil, ErrNameTooLong
-	}
-
 	match := anchoredNameRegexp.FindStringSubmatch(name)
 	if match == nil || len(match) != 3 {
 		return nil, ErrReferenceInvalidFormat
 	}
-	return repository{
+
+	repo := repository{
 		domain: match[1],
 		path:   match[2],
-	}, nil
+	}
+
+	if len(repo.path) > RepositoryNameTotalLengthMax {
+		return nil, ErrNameTooLong
+	}
+
+	return repo, nil
 }
 
 // WithTag combines the name from "name" and the tag from "tag" to form a
diff --git a/reference_test.go b/reference_test.go
index b2f0fe7..42b08d2 100644
--- a/reference_test.go
+++ b/reference_test.go
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ func TestReferenceParse(t *testing.T) {
 			tag:        "Uppercase",
 		},
 		{
-			input: strings.Repeat("a/", 128) + "a:tag",
+			input: "domain/" + strings.Repeat("a", 256) + ":tag",
 			err:   ErrNameTooLong,
 		},
 		{
@@ -266,6 +266,12 @@ func TestReferenceParse(t *testing.T) {
 			input: "[fe80::1%@invalidzone]:5000/repo",
 			err:   ErrReferenceInvalidFormat,
 		},
+		{
+			input:      "domain/" + strings.Repeat("a", 255) + ":tag",
+			domain:     "domain",
+			repository: "domain/" + strings.Repeat("a", 255),
+			tag:        "tag",
+		},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		tc := tc