diff --git a/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation.go b/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation.go
index d421c2972455..51f81c1526c6 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation.go
@@ -17,9 +17,11 @@ limitations under the License.
 package v1alpha1
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 
 	"github.com/knative/pkg/apis"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/validation"
 )
 
 // Validate validates the fields belonging to Service
@@ -96,6 +98,12 @@ func (rt *ReleaseType) Validate() *apis.FieldError {
 	if numRevisions > 2 {
 		errs = errs.Also(apis.ErrOutOfBoundsValue(strconv.Itoa(numRevisions), "1", "2", "revisions"))
 	}
+	for i, r := range rt.Revisions {
+		if msgs := validation.IsDNS1035Label(r); len(msgs) > 0 {
+			errs = errs.Also(apis.ErrInvalidValue(
+				fmt.Sprintf("not a DNS 1035 label: %v", msgs), apis.CurrentField).ViaFieldIndex("revisions", i))
+		}
+	}
 
 	if numRevisions < 2 && rt.RolloutPercent != 0 {
 		errs = errs.Also(apis.ErrInvalidValue(strconv.Itoa(rt.RolloutPercent), "rolloutPercent"))
diff --git a/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation_test.go b/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation_test.go
index 7ca741e6825a..6365b69d5f42 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/serving/v1alpha1/service_validation_test.go
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ import (
 	"github.com/knative/pkg/apis"
 )
 
+const incorrectDNS1035Label = "not a DNS 1035 label: [a DNS-1035 label must consist of lower case alphanumeric characters or '-', start with an alphabetic character, and end with an alphanumeric character (e.g. 'my-name',  or 'abc-123', regex used for validation is '[a-z]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?')]"
+
 func TestServiceValidation(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name string
@@ -244,6 +246,50 @@ func TestServiceValidation(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		want: apis.ErrMissingField("spec.release.revisions"),
+	}, {
+		name: "invalid release -- revision name invalid, long",
+		s: &Service{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: "valid",
+			},
+			Spec: ServiceSpec{
+				Release: &ReleaseType{
+					Revisions: []string{strings.Repeat("a", 64)},
+					Configuration: ConfigurationSpec{
+						RevisionTemplate: RevisionTemplateSpec{
+							Spec: RevisionSpec{
+								Container: corev1.Container{
+									Image: "hellworld",
+								},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		want: apis.ErrInvalidValue("not a DNS 1035 label: [must be no more than 63 characters]", "spec.release.revisions[0]"),
+	}, {
+		name: "invalid release -- revision name invalid, incorrect",
+		s: &Service{
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Name: "valid",
+			},
+			Spec: ServiceSpec{
+				Release: &ReleaseType{
+					Revisions: []string{".negative"},
+					Configuration: ConfigurationSpec{
+						RevisionTemplate: RevisionTemplateSpec{
+							Spec: RevisionSpec{
+								Container: corev1.Container{
+									Image: "hellworld",
+								},
+							},
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		want: apis.ErrInvalidValue(incorrectDNS1035Label, "spec.release.revisions[0]"),
 	}, {
 		name: "invalid release -- too few revisions; empty slice",
 		s: &Service{
@@ -378,7 +424,7 @@ func TestServiceValidation(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		want: &apis.FieldError{
-			Message: "not a DNS 1035 label: [a DNS-1035 label must consist of lower case alphanumeric characters or '-', start with an alphabetic character, and end with an alphanumeric character (e.g. 'my-name',  or 'abc-123', regex used for validation is '[a-z]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?')]",
+			Message: incorrectDNS1035Label,
 			Paths:   []string{"metadata.name"},
 		},
 	}, {