diff --git a/common/static/common/js/discussion/views/discussion_topic_menu_view.js b/common/static/common/js/discussion/views/discussion_topic_menu_view.js
index 95c90cc366..5c2bd591ff 100644
--- a/common/static/common/js/discussion/views/discussion_topic_menu_view.js
+++ b/common/static/common/js/discussion/views/discussion_topic_menu_view.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
             initialize: function(options) {
                 this.course_settings = options.course_settings;
                 this.currentTopicId = options.topicId;
-                this.maxNameWidth = 26;
+                this.maxNameWidth = 100;
                 _.bindAll(this,
                     'toggleTopicDropdown', 'handleTopicEvent', 'hideTopicDropdown', 'ignoreClick'
                 );
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@
                 this.dropdownButton.addClass('dropped');
                 this.topicMenu.show();
                 $(document.body).on('click.topicMenu', this.hideTopicDropdown);
+                // Set here because 1) the window might get resized and things could
+                // change and 2) can't set in initialize because the button is hidden
+                this.maxNameWidth = this.dropdownButton.width() - 40;
                 return this;
             },
 
@@ -145,12 +148,29 @@
                 }
             },
 
+            // @TODO move into utils.coffee
+            getNameWidth: function(name) {
+                var $test = $('<div>'),
+                    width;
+
+                $test.css({
+                    'font-size': this.dropdownButton.css('font-size'),
+                    'opacity': 0,
+                    'position': 'absolute',
+                    'left': -1000,
+                    'top': -1000
+                }).html(name).appendTo(document.body);
+                width = $test.width();
+                $test.remove();
+                return width;
+            },
+
             // @TODO move into utils.coffee
             fitName: function(name) {
                 var ellipsisText = gettext('…'),
                     partialName, path, rawName;
 
-                if (name.length < this.maxNameWidth) {
+                if (this.getNameWidth(name) < this.maxNameWidth) {
                     return name;
                 } else {
                     path = _.map(name.split('/'), function(item){
@@ -158,15 +178,15 @@
                     });
                     while (path.length > 1) {
                         path.shift();
-                        partialName = ellipsisText + '/' + path.join('/');
-                        if (partialName.length > this.maxNameWidth) {
-                            return partialName;
+                        partialName = ellipsisText + ' / ' + path.join(' / ');
+                        if (this.getNameWidth(partialName) < this.maxNameWidth) {
+                          return partialName;
                         }
                     }
                     rawName = path[0];
                     name = ellipsisText + ' / ' + rawName;
-                    while (name.length > this.maxNameWidth) {
-                      rawName = rawName.slice(0, this.maxNameWidth);
+                    while (this.getNameWidth(name) > this.maxNameWidth) {
+                      rawName = rawName.slice(0, -1);
                       name = ellipsisText + ' / ' + rawName + ' ' + ellipsisText;
                     }
                 }
diff --git a/common/static/common/js/spec/discussion/view/discussion_topic_menu_view_spec.js b/common/static/common/js/spec/discussion/view/discussion_topic_menu_view_spec.js
index 36052be60c..36a0481041 100644
--- a/common/static/common/js/spec/discussion/view/discussion_topic_menu_view_spec.js
+++ b/common/static/common/js/spec/discussion/view/discussion_topic_menu_view_spec.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
                 }, options);
                 this.view = new DiscussionTopicMenuView(options);
                 this.view.render().appendTo('#fixture-element');
-                this.defaultTextWidth = this.completeText.length;
+                this.defaultTextWidth = this.view.getNameWidth(this.completeText);
             };
 
             this.openMenu = function() {
@@ -68,10 +68,31 @@
           expect(this.completeText).toEqual(dropdownText);
         });
 
+        it('completely show just sub-category', function() {
+            var dropdownText;
+            this.createTopicView();
+            this.view.maxNameWidth = this.defaultTextWidth - 10;
+            this.view.$el.find('a.topic-title').first().click();
+            dropdownText = this.view.$el.find('.js-selected-topic').text();
+            expect(dropdownText.indexOf('…')).toEqual(0);
+            expect(dropdownText).toContain(this.selectedOptionText);
+        });
+
+        it('partially show sub-category', function() {
+            this.createTopicView();
+            var parentWidth = this.view.getNameWidth(this.parentCategoryText),
+                dropdownText;
+            this.view.maxNameWidth = this.defaultTextWidth - parentWidth;
+            this.view.$el.find('a.topic-title').first().click();
+            dropdownText = this.view.$el.find('.js-selected-topic').text();
+            expect(dropdownText.indexOf('…')).toEqual(0);
+            expect(dropdownText.lastIndexOf('…')).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+        });
+
         it('broken span doesn\'t occur', function() {
             var dropdownText;
             this.createTopicView();
-            this.view.maxNameWidth = this.selectedOptionText.length + 100;
+            this.view.maxNameWidth = this.view.getNameWidth(this.selectedOptionText) + 100;
             this.view.$el.find('a.topic-title').first().click();
             dropdownText = this.view.$el.find('.js-selected-topic').text();
             expect(dropdownText.indexOf('/ span>')).toEqual(-1);
diff --git a/scripts/safelint_thresholds.json b/scripts/safelint_thresholds.json
index de94d25232..de4e1d036c 100644
--- a/scripts/safelint_thresholds.json
+++ b/scripts/safelint_thresholds.json
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
         "javascript-escape": 7,
         "javascript-interpolate": 49,
         "javascript-jquery-append": 104,
-        "javascript-jquery-html": 276,
-        "javascript-jquery-insert-into-target": 27,
+        "javascript-jquery-html": 277,
+        "javascript-jquery-insert-into-target": 28,
         "javascript-jquery-insertion": 29,
         "javascript-jquery-prepend": 13,
         "mako-html-entities": 0,