diff --git uniqueness.admin.inc uniqueness.admin.inc
index 101e1d5..de37eed 100644
--- uniqueness.admin.inc
+++ uniqueness.admin.inc
@@ -27,6 +27,16 @@ function uniqueness_settings() {
     '#default_value' => variable_get('uniqueness_search_mode', UNIQUENESS_SEARCH_MODE_NODETITLE),
     '#required' => TRUE,
   );
+  $form['search']['uniqueness_query_min'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'textfield',
+    '#title' => t('Minimum number of characters cause the search'),
+    '#default_value' => variable_get('uniqueness_query_min', 3),
+    '#size' => 5,
+    '#maxlength' => 4,
+    '#element_validate' => array('uniqueness_form_validate_query_min'),
+    '#description' => t('Suppress searching when the query is too short. (For "Drupal search", must be 3 or more.)'),
+    '#required' => TRUE,
+  );
 
   // Appearance.
   $form['appearance'] = array(
@@ -93,4 +103,16 @@ function _uniqueness_search_mode_options() {
     );
   }
   return $options;
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+/**
+ * Implementation of hook_form_validate().
+ */
+function uniqueness_form_validate_query_min($element, &$form_state) {
+  // Validate that the minimum number of search characters is numeric and within range
+  $lower_limit = ($form_state['values']['uniqueness_search_mode'] == UNIQUENESS_SEARCH_MODE_DRUPAL) ? 3 : 1;
+  $value = $element['#value'];
+  if (!is_numeric($value) || $value < $lower_limit || $value > 30) {
+    form_error($element, t('The number of search characters must be between @lower and 30.', array('@lower' => $lower_limit)));
+  }
+}
diff --git uniqueness.js uniqueness.js
index f303164..44618e1 100644
--- uniqueness.js
+++ uniqueness.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Drupal.behaviors.uniqueness = function (context) {
   // Search off title.
   $('#edit-title').keyup(function() {
     input = this.value;
-    if (input.length > 0) {
+    if (input.length >= uniqueness.minCharacters) {
       uniqueness.search('title', input);
     }
     else if(input.length == 0 && !uniqueness.prependResults) {
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ Drupal.uniqueness = function (uri, widget) {
   this.searchCache = {};
   this.listCache = {};
   this.prependResults = Drupal.settings.uniqueness['prependResults'];
+  this.minCharacters = Drupal.settings.uniqueness['minCharacters'];
 }
 
 Drupal.uniqueness.prototype.update = function (data) {
diff --git uniqueness.module uniqueness.module
index 485bd97..61519ee 100644
--- uniqueness.module
+++ uniqueness.module
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ function _uniqueness_add_search_javascript() {
     'URL' => $search_url,
     'preview' => FALSE,
     'prependResults' => variable_get('uniqueness_results_prepend', 0) == 1 ? TRUE : FALSE,
+    'minCharacters' => variable_get('uniqueness_query_min', 3),
     'searchingString' => filter_xss_admin(variable_get('uniqueness_searching_string', t('Searching&hellip;'))),
   );
   if (!empty($form_state['node_preview'])) {