diff --git a/lib/NamedEntity.cc b/lib/NamedEntity.cc
index ad7c385c..484c8b1f 100644
--- a/lib/NamedEntity.cc
+++ b/lib/NamedEntity.cc
@@ -18,19 +18,29 @@
  */
 #include "NamedEntity.h"
 
+#include <cctype>
+
+/**
+ * Allowed characters for property, namespace, cluster and topic names are
+ * alphanumeric (a-zA-Z_0-9) and these special chars -=:.
+ * @param name
+ * @return
+ */
 bool NamedEntity::checkName(const std::string& name) {
     for (char c : name) {
+        if (isalnum(c)) {
+            continue;
+        }
+
         switch (c) {
+            case '-':
             case '=':
             case ':':
-            case ' ':
-            case '!':
-            case '\t':
-            case '\r':
-            case '\n':
-                return false;
+            case '.':
+                continue;
             default:
-                break;
+                // Invalid character was found
+                return false;
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/NamespaceNameTest.cc b/tests/NamespaceNameTest.cc
index 85a57494..51975c82 100644
--- a/tests/NamespaceNameTest.cc
+++ b/tests/NamespaceNameTest.cc
@@ -42,3 +42,11 @@ TEST(NamespaceNameTest, testNamespaceNameV2) {
     std::shared_ptr<NamespaceName> nn2 = NamespaceName::get("property", "namespace");
     ASSERT_TRUE(*nn1 == *nn2);
 }
+
+TEST(NamespaceNameTest, testNamespaceNameLegalCharacters) {
+    std::shared_ptr<NamespaceName> nn1 = NamespaceName::get("cluster-1:=.", "namespace-1:=.");
+    ASSERT_EQ("cluster-1:=.", nn1->getProperty());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(nn1->getCluster().empty());
+    ASSERT_EQ("namespace-1:=.", nn1->getLocalName());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(nn1->isV2());
+}
diff --git a/tests/TopicNameTest.cc b/tests/TopicNameTest.cc
index 377a9319..3db2a6c0 100644
--- a/tests/TopicNameTest.cc
+++ b/tests/TopicNameTest.cc
@@ -140,6 +140,15 @@ TEST(TopicNameTest, testIllegalCharacters) {
     ASSERT_FALSE(topicName);
 }
 
+TEST(TopicNameTest, testLegalNonAlphaCharacters) {
+    std::shared_ptr<TopicName> topicName = TopicName::get("persistent://cluster-1:=./namespace-1:=./topic");
+    ASSERT_TRUE(topicName);
+    ASSERT_EQ("cluster-1:=.", topicName->getProperty());
+    ASSERT_EQ("namespace-1:=.", topicName->getNamespacePortion());
+    ASSERT_EQ("persistent", topicName->getDomain());
+    ASSERT_EQ("topic", topicName->getLocalName());
+}
+
 TEST(TopicNameTest, testIllegalUrl) {
     std::shared_ptr<TopicName> topicName = TopicName::get("persistent:::/property/cluster/namespace/topic");
     ASSERT_FALSE(topicName);