Rails - truncate - is not behaving--- Using a var returned from the model

Question

Here is the truncate code I'm using:

<%= truncate(teammember.user.full_name, :length => 8)%>

teammember.user.full_name returns names like: - Steve Jobs - Larry Oracle - James Bond - Dhandar Kentavolv

Butall the truncate is doing is returning: - Steve Jobs... - Larry Oracle... - James Bond... - Dhandar Kentavolv...

The user.full_name is not a field in the DB but a helper in the user model, which might be the issue.?

def full_name
    if !fname.nil? && !fname.empty?
        [fname, lname].join(" ")
    else
        ['User', id].join(" ")
    end
end

Any ideas? thanks!