diff --git a/actors.c b/actors.c
index e8a9c95e5..fe4aeb87a 100755
--- a/actors.c
+++ b/actors.c
@@ -378,6 +378,28 @@ static void set_food_color(float percent, float multiplier, float a)
 	set_banner_colour_general(zero_food, full_food, percent, multiplier, a);
 }
 
+static void check_for_banner_now_off(void)
+{
+	static int banner_was_on = -1;
+	int banner_is_on = view_names||view_hp||view_health_bar||view_ether_bar||view_ether||view_food_bar||view_food;
+	if (banner_was_on == -1)
+		banner_was_on = banner_is_on;
+	else
+	{
+		if ((banner_was_on != banner_is_on) && (banner_is_on == 0))
+		{
+			char str[200];
+			char key_str[20];
+			str[0] = '\0';
+			safe_strcat(str, banner_off_help_str, sizeof(str));
+			safe_strcat(str, get_key_string(K_VIEWNAMES, key_str, sizeof(key_str)), sizeof(str));
+			safe_strcat(str, "].", sizeof(str));
+			LOG_TO_CONSOLE(c_red1, str);
+		}
+		banner_was_on = banner_is_on;
+	}
+}
+
 static void draw_actor_banner(actor *actor_id, const actor *me, float offset_z)
 {
 	unsigned char str[60];
@@ -427,6 +449,8 @@ static void draw_actor_banner(actor *actor_id, const actor *me, float offset_z)
 	int display_ether_line = 0;
 	int display_food_line = 0;
 
+	check_for_banner_now_off();
+
 	if (displaying_me && first_person) return;
 
 	//if not drawing me, can't display ether/food or ether/food bar
diff --git a/translate.c b/translate.c
index cccf2dffc..0b53a7ef5 100644
--- a/translate.c
+++ b/translate.c
@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ char	name_too_long[75],
 	commands_help_not_recognsed_str[40],
 	commands_help_description_help_str[100],
 	commands_help_search_help_str[100],
+	banner_off_help_str[100],
 	cmd_ignores[20],
 	cmd_ignore[20],
 	cmd_unignore[20],
@@ -1180,6 +1181,7 @@ void init_console()
 	add_xml_identifier(misc, "commands_help_not_recognsed", commands_help_not_recognsed_str, "Unrecognised command", sizeof(commands_help_not_recognsed_str));
 	add_xml_identifier(misc, "commands_help_description_help", commands_help_description_help_str, "For help on a particular command, use ## <command>.", sizeof(commands_help_description_help_str));
 	add_xml_identifier(misc, "commands_help_search_help", commands_help_search_help_str, "To search command name and description, use #? <search text>.", sizeof(commands_help_search_help_str));
+	add_xml_identifier(misc, "banner_off_help", banner_off_help_str, "Player banner off. To restore enable an option, e.g. names [", sizeof(banner_off_help_str));
 
 	add_xml_identifier(loading_msg,"init_opengl",init_opengl_str,"Initializing OpenGL extensions",sizeof(init_opengl_str));
 	add_xml_identifier(loading_msg,"init_random",init_random_str,"Generating random seed",sizeof(init_random_str));
diff --git a/translate.h b/translate.h
index 58880c688..38e4c8fc8 100644
--- a/translate.h
+++ b/translate.h
@@ -280,6 +280,7 @@ extern char
 		commands_help_not_recognsed_str[40],
 		commands_help_description_help_str[100],
 		commands_help_search_help_str[100],
+		banner_off_help_str[100],
 		cmd_ignores[20],
 		cmd_ignore[20],
 		cmd_unignore[20],