diff --git a/sphinx/writers/latex.py b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
index c8ff5b12b..15bfa477b 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/latex.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ BEGIN_DOC = r'''
 '''
 
 
-MAX_CITATION_LABEL_LENGTH = 16
+MAX_CITATION_LABEL_LENGTH = 8
 LATEXSECTIONNAMES = ["part", "chapter", "section", "subsection",
                      "subsubsection", "paragraph", "subparagraph"]
 
diff --git a/tests/test_build_latex.py b/tests/test_build_latex.py
index a68753c33..459ac9f1d 100644
--- a/tests/test_build_latex.py
+++ b/tests/test_build_latex.py
@@ -1240,7 +1240,7 @@ def test_latex_thebibliography(app, status, warning):
 
     result = (app.outdir / 'Python.tex').text(encoding='utf8')
     print(result)
-    assert ('\\begin{sphinxthebibliography}{AuthorYear}\n'
+    assert ('\\begin{sphinxthebibliography}{AuthorYe}\n'
             '\\bibitem[AuthorYear]{index:authoryear}\n'
             'Author, Title, Year\n'
             '\\end{sphinxthebibliography}\n' in result)