diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/lib/repository.ts b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/lib/repository.ts
index 39bdb24eca355..ef4fa18d809c9 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/lib/repository.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/lib/repository.ts
@@ -493,7 +493,11 @@ export interface OnImageScanCompletedOptions extends events.OnEventOptions {
 
 export interface RepositoryProps {
   /**
-   * Name for this repository
+   * Name for this repository.
+   *
+   * The repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, and forward slashes.
+   *
+   * > If you specify a name, you cannot perform updates that require replacement of this resource. You can perform updates that require no or some interruption. If you must replace the resource, specify a new name.
    *
    * @default Automatically generated name.
    */
@@ -672,7 +676,7 @@ export class Repository extends RepositoryBase {
     }
     const isPatternMatch = /^(?:[a-z0-9]+(?:[._-][a-z0-9]+)*\/)*[a-z0-9]+(?:[._-][a-z0-9]+)*$/.test(repositoryName);
     if (!isPatternMatch) {
-      errors.push('Repository name must follow the specified pattern: (?:[a-z0-9]+(?:[._-][a-z0-9]+)*/)*[a-z0-9]+(?:[._-][a-z0-9]+)*');
+      errors.push('Repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods and forward slashes');
     }
 
     if (errors.length > 0) {
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/test/repository.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/test/repository.test.ts
index 32c79d8d16978..002c347688457 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/test/repository.test.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-ecr/test/repository.test.ts
@@ -898,7 +898,7 @@ describe('repository', () => {
       const expectedErrors = [
         `Invalid ECR repository name (value: ${repositoryName})`,
         'Repository name must be at least 2 and no more than 256 characters',
-        'Repository name must follow the specified pattern: (?:[a-z0-9]+(?:[._-][a-z0-9]+)*/)*[a-z0-9]+(?:[._-][a-z0-9]+)*',
+        'Repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods and forward slashes',
       ].join(EOL);
 
       expect(() => new ecr.Repository(stack, 'Repo', {
@@ -923,19 +923,19 @@ describe('repository', () => {
 
       expect(() => new ecr.Repository(stack, 'Repo1', {
         repositoryName: 'aAa',
-      })).toThrow(/must follow the specified pattern/);
+      })).toThrow('Repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods and forward slashes');
 
       expect(() => new ecr.Repository(stack, 'Repo2', {
         repositoryName: 'a--a',
-      })).toThrow(/must follow the specified pattern/);
+      })).toThrow('Repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods and forward slashes');
 
       expect(() => new ecr.Repository(stack, 'Repo3', {
         repositoryName: 'a./a-a',
-      })).toThrow(/must follow the specified pattern/);
+      })).toThrow('Repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods and forward slashes');
 
       expect(() => new ecr.Repository(stack, 'Repo4', {
         repositoryName: 'a//a-a',
-      })).toThrow(/must follow the specified pattern/);
+      })).toThrow('Repository name must start with a letter and can only contain lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens, underscores, periods and forward slashes');
     });
 
     test('return value addToResourcePolicy', () => {