diff --git a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/brapps/importer/services/FileImportService.java b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/brapps/importer/services/FileImportService.java
index c0df7711c..1478cf985 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/brapps/importer/services/FileImportService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/brapps/importer/services/FileImportService.java
@@ -171,20 +171,11 @@ private Table parseUploadedFile(CompletedFileUpload file) throws UnsupportedType
             throw new UnsupportedTypeException("Unsupported mime type");
         }
 
-        // replace "." with "" in column names to deal with json flattening issue in tablesaw
-        List<String> columnNames = df.columnNames();
-        List<String> namesToReplace = new ArrayList<>();
-        for (String name : columnNames) {
-            if (name.contains(".")) {
-                namesToReplace.add(name);
-            }
-        }
-
-        List<Column<?>> columns = df.columns(namesToReplace.stream().toArray(String[]::new));
-        for (int i=0; i<columns.size(); i++) {
-            Column<?> column = columns.get(i);
-            column.setName(namesToReplace.get(i).replace(".",""));
-        }
+        // replace certain special characters with "" in column names to deal with json flattening issue in tablesaw
+        // this includes ".", "[", "]"
+        df.columns().forEach(
+            (c) -> c.setName(c.name().replace(".","").replace("[","").replace("]",""))
+        );
 
         return df;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitFileValidatorError.java b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitFileValidatorError.java
index 40807cf03..d19e6a295 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitFileValidatorError.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitFileValidatorError.java
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ public ValidationError getMissingScaleDataTypeMsg() {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public ValidationError getPeriodObsVarNameMsg() {
-        return new ValidationError("Name", "Period is invalid", HttpStatus.UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY);
+    public ValidationError getInvalidCharObsVarNameMsg() {
+        return new ValidationError("Name", "Periods and brackets are invalid", HttpStatus.UNPROCESSABLE_ENTITY);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorError.java b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorError.java
index 107419539..bb0b5165f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorError.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorError.java
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ public ValidationError getMissingScaleDataTypeMsg() {
     }
     
     @Override
-    public ValidationError getPeriodObsVarNameMsg() {
-        return new ValidationError("observationVariableName", "Period in name is invalid", HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
+    public ValidationError getInvalidCharObsVarNameMsg() {
+        return new ValidationError("observationVariableName", "Periods and brackets in name are invalid", HttpStatus.BAD_REQUEST);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorErrorInterface.java b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorErrorInterface.java
index 27400e2c5..73c92a425 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorErrorInterface.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorErrorInterface.java
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ public interface TraitValidatorErrorInterface {
     ValidationError getMissingScaleUnitMsg();
     ValidationError getMissingScaleDataTypeMsg();
     ValidationError getMissingObsVarNameMsg();
-    ValidationError getPeriodObsVarNameMsg();
+    ValidationError getInvalidCharObsVarNameMsg();
     ValidationError getMissingTraitEntityMsg();
     ValidationError getMissingTraitAttributeMsg();
     ValidationError getMissingTraitDescriptionMsg();
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorService.java b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorService.java
index e6f73ffcd..aab931921 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/breedinginsight/services/validators/TraitValidatorService.java
@@ -217,12 +217,12 @@ public ValidationErrors checkTraitFieldsFormat(List<Trait> traits, TraitValidato
             Trait trait = traits.get(i);
             String name = trait.getObservationVariableName();
 
-            Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("\\.");
+            Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[\\.\\]\\[]");
             Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(name);
             boolean containsInvalidCharacter = matcher.find();
 
             if (name != null && containsInvalidCharacter){
-                ValidationError error = traitValidatorErrors.getPeriodObsVarNameMsg();
+                ValidationError error = traitValidatorErrors.getInvalidCharObsVarNameMsg();
                 errors.addError(traitValidatorErrors.getRowNumber(i), error);
             }
         }