diff --git a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go
index 36b647f510..94fb4465fe 100644
--- a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go
+++ b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name.go
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func normalizeName(metric pmetric.Metric, namespace string) string {
 	// Split metric name into "tokens" (remove all non-alphanumerics)
 	nameTokens := strings.FieldsFunc(
 		metric.Name(),
-		func(r rune) bool { return !unicode.IsLetter(r) && !unicode.IsDigit(r) },
+		func(r rune) bool { return !unicode.IsLetter(r) && !unicode.IsDigit(r) && r != ':' },
 	)
 
 	// Split unit at the '/' if any
diff --git a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name_test.go b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name_test.go
index 8c5dc7d1f9..3ea4b70a53 100644
--- a/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name_test.go
+++ b/storage/remote/otlptranslator/prometheus/normalize_name_test.go
@@ -184,8 +184,8 @@ func TestBuildCompliantNameWithNormalize(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, "system_network_io_bytes_total", BuildCompliantName(createCounter("network.io", "By"), "system", true))
 	require.Equal(t, "_3_14_digits", BuildCompliantName(createGauge("3.14 digits", ""), "", true))
 	require.Equal(t, "envoy_rule_engine_zlib_buf_error", BuildCompliantName(createGauge("envoy__rule_engine_zlib_buf_error", ""), "", true))
-	require.Equal(t, "foo_bar", BuildCompliantName(createGauge(":foo::bar", ""), "", true))
-	require.Equal(t, "foo_bar_total", BuildCompliantName(createCounter(":foo::bar", ""), "", true))
+	require.Equal(t, ":foo::bar", BuildCompliantName(createGauge(":foo::bar", ""), "", true))
+	require.Equal(t, ":foo::bar_total", BuildCompliantName(createCounter(":foo::bar", ""), "", true))
 	// Gauges with unit 1 are considered ratios.
 	require.Equal(t, "foo_bar_ratio", BuildCompliantName(createGauge("foo.bar", "1"), "", true))
 	// Slashes in units are converted.