diff --git a/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/Main.java b/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/Main.java
index f9d532f..f108291 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/Main.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/Main.java
@@ -212,16 +212,14 @@ private static void removeWithDependencies(AutoCD autoCD, K8sClient k8sClient) {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Creates a name for a depending service out of the project name and a hashed registry image path from the main service
+     * Creates a name for a depending service
      *
      * @param main
      * @param other
      */
     private static void setServiceNameForOtherImages(AutoCD main, AutoCD other) {
         if (other.getServiceName() == null) {
-            other.setServiceName(Util.hash(
-                    System.getenv(Environment.CI_PROJECT_NAME.toString()) + main.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath()).substring(0, 20)
-            );
+            other.setServiceName(Util.slugify(main.getServiceName() + "-" + main.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath()));
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/k8s/K8sClient.java b/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/k8s/K8sClient.java
index c11f7e3..68e6b21 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/k8s/K8sClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/k8s/K8sClient.java
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ private void deleteStatefulSet(V1StatefulSet set) {
     private V1StatefulSet getStatefulSet(AutoCD autoCD) {
         var meta = getNamespacedMeta();
         var projName = System.getenv(Environment.CI_PROJECT_NAME.toString());
-        meta.setName(Util.hash(getNamespaceString() + autoCD.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath() + projName).substring(0, 20));
+        meta.setName(Util.slugify(projName + "--" + autoCD.getServiceName()));
         var labels = Map.of("k8s-app", getK8sApp(autoCD), "serviceName", getCleanServiceNameLabel(autoCD));
         meta.setLabels(labels);
 
@@ -576,6 +576,10 @@ private void createNamespace(V1Namespace nameSpace) {
 
     @NotNull
     private String getPVCName(Volume volume, @NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
+        // TODO: we should switch to an unhashed version for readability reasons - what is the best way to migrate the old porjects?
+        //var str = getNamespaceString() + "--" + getServiceName(autoCD) + "--" + "claim" + autoCD.getVolumes().indexOf(volume);
+        //return Util.slugify(str);
+
         var str = getNamespaceString() + "-" + getName() + "-" + autoCD.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath() + "-" + autoCD.getVolumes().indexOf(volume) + "-claim";
         return hash(str).substring(0, 20);
     }
@@ -627,7 +631,7 @@ private List<ExtensionsV1beta1Ingress> getIngress(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
             var ingress = new ExtensionsV1beta1Ingress();
             ingress.setKind("Ingress");
             var meta = getNamespacedMeta();
-            meta.setName(Util.hash(subdomain + getNamespaceString() + "-" + getName() + "-ingress" + autoCD.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath()).substring(0, 20));
+            meta.setName(Util.slugify(getNamespaceString() + "--" + subdomain + "--" + getName()));
             meta.setAnnotations(Map.of("cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer", "letsencrypt-prod",
                     "kubernetes.io/ingress.class", "nginx"));
 
@@ -647,7 +651,7 @@ private List<ExtensionsV1beta1Ingress> getIngress(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
                     .withRules(rules.build())
                     .withTls(new ExtensionsV1beta1IngressTLSBuilder()
                             .withHosts(subdomain)
-                            .withSecretName(Util.hash(subdomain).substring(0, 10))
+                            .withSecretName(Util.slugify(getNamespaceString() + "--" + subdomain))
                             .build())
                     .build();
 
@@ -691,7 +695,14 @@ private String getServiceName(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
             return autoCD.getServiceName();
         }
 
-        return "service-" + Util.hash(getNamespaceString() + "-" + getName() + "-service").substring(0, 20);
+        String serviceName = "service--" + getName();
+
+        // Validate the length of the new service name - should be less then 63 characters:
+        // https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/pkg/apis/discovery/types.go#L122-L130
+        if (serviceName.length() > 63) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("The service name MUST NOT have more then 63 characters!");
+        }
+        return serviceName;
     }
 
     @NotNull
@@ -718,7 +729,7 @@ private V1Service getService(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
     private ExtensionsV1beta1Deployment getDeployment(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
         var meta = getNamespacedMeta();
         var projName = System.getenv(Environment.CI_PROJECT_NAME.toString());
-        meta.setName(Util.hash(getNamespaceString() + autoCD.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath() + projName));
+        meta.setName(Util.slugify(projName + "--" + autoCD.getServiceName()));
         var labels = Map.of("k8s-app", getK8sApp(autoCD));
         meta.setLabels(labels);
 
@@ -819,7 +830,7 @@ private V1ContainerBuilder getV1ContainerBuilder(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
 
     @NotNull
     private String getK8sApp(@NotNull AutoCD autoCD) {
-        return Util.hash(getNamespaceString() + "-" + getName() + "-" + Util.hash(autoCD.getIdentifierRegistryImagePath())).substring(0, 20) + hyphenedBuildType;
+        return Util.slugify(getNamespaceString() + "-" + autoCD.getServiceName());
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/util/Util.java b/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/util/Util.java
index f0b86f7..9a49855 100644
--- a/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/util/Util.java
+++ b/src/main/java/de/worldiety/autocd/util/Util.java
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ private static String bytesToHex(byte[] hash) {
         return hexString.toString();
     }
 
-
     public static String hash(String toHash) {
         MessageDigest digest = null;
         try {
@@ -64,4 +63,16 @@ public static String hash(String toHash) {
 
         return Util.bytesToHex(encodedhash);
     }
+
+    public static String slugify(String toSlug) {
+        return slugify(toSlug, 255);
+    }
+
+    public static String slugify(String toSlug, int maxLength) {
+        if (toSlug == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+        String slugified = toSlug.toLowerCase().replaceAll("[^a-z0-9\\-]", "");
+        return slugified.substring(0, Integer.min(slugified.length(), maxLength));
+    }
 }