diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pcln.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pcln.go
index 3abbf05c54..56c4fe0b46 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pcln.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pcln.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"internal/buildcfg"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 // pclntab holds the state needed for pclntab generation.
@@ -286,11 +287,35 @@ func walkFuncs(ctxt *Link, funcs []loader.Sym, f func(loader.Sym)) {
 func (state *pclntab) generateFuncnametab(ctxt *Link, funcs []loader.Sym) map[loader.Sym]uint32 {
 	nameOffsets := make(map[loader.Sym]uint32, state.nfunc)
 
+	// The name used by the runtime is the concatenation of the 3 returned strings.
+	// For regular functions, only one returned string is nonempty.
+	// For generic functions, we use three parts so that we can print everything
+	// within the outermost "[]" as "...".
+	nameParts := func(name string) (string, string, string) {
+		i := strings.IndexByte(name, '[')
+		if i < 0 {
+			return name, "", ""
+		}
+		// TODO: use LastIndexByte once the bootstrap compiler is >= Go 1.5.
+		j := len(name) - 1
+		for j > i && name[j] != ']' {
+			j--
+		}
+		if j <= i {
+			return name, "", ""
+		}
+		return name[:i], "[...]", name[j+1:]
+	}
+
 	// Write the null terminated strings.
 	writeFuncNameTab := func(ctxt *Link, s loader.Sym) {
 		symtab := ctxt.loader.MakeSymbolUpdater(s)
 		for s, off := range nameOffsets {
-			symtab.AddStringAt(int64(off), ctxt.loader.SymName(s))
+			a, b, c := nameParts(ctxt.loader.SymName(s))
+			o := int64(off)
+			o = symtab.AddStringAt(o, a)
+			o = symtab.AddStringAt(o, b)
+			_ = symtab.AddCStringAt(o, c)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -298,7 +323,8 @@ func (state *pclntab) generateFuncnametab(ctxt *Link, funcs []loader.Sym) map[lo
 	var size int64
 	walkFuncs(ctxt, funcs, func(s loader.Sym) {
 		nameOffsets[s] = uint32(size)
-		size += int64(ctxt.loader.SymNameLen(s)) + 1 // NULL terminate
+		a, b, c := nameParts(ctxt.loader.SymName(s))
+		size += int64(len(a) + len(b) + len(c) + 1) // NULL terminate
 	})
 
 	state.funcnametab = state.addGeneratedSym(ctxt, "runtime.funcnametab", size, writeFuncNameTab)
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go
index dcc33b966b..4bf5475a32 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/loader.go
@@ -752,22 +752,6 @@ func (l *Loader) NReachableSym() int {
 	return l.attrReachable.Count()
 }
 
-// SymNameLen returns the length of the symbol name, trying hard not to load
-// the name.
-func (l *Loader) SymNameLen(i Sym) int {
-	// Not much we can do about external symbols.
-	if l.IsExternal(i) {
-		return len(l.SymName(i))
-	}
-	r, li := l.toLocal(i)
-	le := r.Sym(li).NameLen(r.Reader)
-	if !r.NeedNameExpansion() {
-		return le
-	}
-	// Just load the symbol name. We don't know how expanded it'll be.
-	return len(l.SymName(i))
-}
-
 // Returns the raw (unpatched) name of the i-th symbol.
 func (l *Loader) RawSymName(i Sym) string {
 	if l.IsExternal(i) {
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/symbolbuilder.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/symbolbuilder.go
index 204d04412d..558c0a7dff 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/symbolbuilder.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/loader/symbolbuilder.go
@@ -308,6 +308,16 @@ func (sb *SymbolBuilder) SetAddr(arch *sys.Arch, off int64, tgt Sym) int64 {
 }
 
 func (sb *SymbolBuilder) AddStringAt(off int64, str string) int64 {
+	strLen := int64(len(str))
+	if off+strLen > int64(len(sb.data)) {
+		panic("attempt to write past end of buffer")
+	}
+	copy(sb.data[off:off+strLen], str)
+	return off + strLen
+}
+
+// AddCStringAt adds str plus a null terminating byte.
+func (sb *SymbolBuilder) AddCStringAt(off int64, str string) int64 {
 	strLen := int64(len(str))
 	if off+strLen+1 > int64(len(sb.data)) {
 		panic("attempt to write past end of buffer")