Richard I think you are wrong and perhaps you looked over the example too quick. The "cnt" Table is only ever used once as a Table reference, thereafter only the *column cnt.x* was referenced, it's perfectly acceptable and works very well in PostGres, MariaDB, MySQL, MSSQL, etc. etc. The fault in the OP's query is not his *table reference* but indeed that he tried to use a *column reference* in a LIMIT clause, which is 100% not allowed in the SQL languages mentioned (there might be others that do allow it, but I don't know of them). Had he used that *column reference* nearly anywhere else in that sub query, it would work in SQLite as much as in every other RDBMS. It's easily demonstrable if needed, but I imagine the case will be apparent on a mere moment's reflection.