diff --git a/src/util.js b/src/util.js
index 9720f24f444..11a79f95eb4 100644
--- a/src/util.js
+++ b/src/util.js
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ export function validateCouchDBString(name) {
     ) return true;
 
 
-    const regStr = '^[a-z][a-z0-9]*$';
+    const regStr = '^[a-z][_$a-z0-9]*$';
     const reg = new RegExp(regStr);
     if (!name.match(reg)) {
         throw new RxError.newRxError('UT2', {
diff --git a/test/unit/util.test.js b/test/unit/util.test.js
index 05e8205e905..68db06f8231 100644
--- a/test/unit/util.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/util.test.js
@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ describe('util.test.js', () => {
             it('should validate a normal string', () => {
                 util.validateCouchDBString('foobar');
             });
+            it('should allow _ and $ after the first character', () => {
+                util.validateCouchDBString('foo_bar');
+                util.validateCouchDBString('foobar_');
+                util.validateCouchDBString('foobar$');
+            } );
+            it('should not allow _ and $ as first character', () => {
+                assert.throws( () => util.validateCouchDBString('$foobar'), { code: 'UT2' } );
+                assert.throws( () => util.validateCouchDBString('_foobar'), { code: 'UT2' } );
+            } );
             it('should validate foldernames', () => {
                 util.validateCouchDBString('./foobar'); // unix
                 util.validateCouchDBString('.\\foobar'); //windows