Grouped LIMIT in PostgreSQL: show the first N rows for each group?

Since v9.3 you can do a lateral join

select distinct t_outer.section_id, t_top.id, t_top.name from t t_outer
join lateral (
    select * from t t_inner
    where t_inner.section_id = t_outer.section_id
    order by t_inner.name
    limit 2
) t_top on true
order by t_outer.section_id;

It might be faster but, of course, you should test performance specifically on your data and use case.

Here's another solution (PostgreSQL <= 8.3).

SELECT
  *
FROM
  xxx a
WHERE (
  SELECT
    COUNT(*)
  FROM
    xxx
  WHERE
    section_id = a.section_id
  AND
    name <= a.name
) <= 2

New solution (PostgreSQL 8.4)

SELECT
  * 
FROM (
  SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY section_id ORDER BY name) AS r,
    t.*
  FROM
    xxx t) x
WHERE
  x.r <= 2;