diff --git a/util/strutil/strconv.go b/util/strutil/strconv.go
index 28875fc7f..8cdd7d483 100644
--- a/util/strutil/strconv.go
+++ b/util/strutil/strconv.go
@@ -17,8 +17,12 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/grafana/regexp"
 )
 
+var invalidLabelCharRE = regexp.MustCompile(`[^a-zA-Z0-9_]`)
+
 // TableLinkForExpression creates an escaped relative link to the table view of
 // the provided expression.
 func TableLinkForExpression(expr string) string {
@@ -33,9 +37,18 @@ func GraphLinkForExpression(expr string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("/graph?g0.expr=%s&g0.tab=0", escapedExpression)
 }
 
-// SanitizeLabelName replaces any invalid character with an underscore, and if
-// given an empty string, returns a string containing a single underscore.
+// SanitizeLabelName replaces anything that doesn't match
+// client_label.LabelNameRE with an underscore.
+// Note: this does not handle all Prometheus label name restrictions (such as
+// not starting with a digit 0-9), and hence should only be used if the label
+// name is prefixed with a known valid string.
 func SanitizeLabelName(name string) string {
+	return invalidLabelCharRE.ReplaceAllString(name, "_")
+}
+
+// SanitizeFullLabelName replaces any invalid character with an underscore, and
+// if given an empty string, returns a string containing a single underscore.
+func SanitizeFullLabelName(name string) string {
 	if len(name) == 0 {
 		return "_"
 	}
diff --git a/util/strutil/strconv_test.go b/util/strutil/strconv_test.go
index 686adbeb9..f09e7ffb3 100644
--- a/util/strutil/strconv_test.go
+++ b/util/strutil/strconv_test.go
@@ -58,12 +58,22 @@ func TestSanitizeLabelName(t *testing.T) {
 	actual = SanitizeLabelName("barClient.LABEL$$##")
 	expected = "barClient_LABEL____"
 	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeLabelName failed for label (%s)", expected)
-
-	actual = SanitizeLabelName("0zerothClient1LABEL")
-	expected = "_zerothClient1LABEL"
-	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeLabelName failed for label (%s)", expected)
-
-	actual = SanitizeLabelName("")
-	expected = "_"
-	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeLabelName failed for the empty label")
+}
+
+func TestSanitizeFullLabelName(t *testing.T) {
+	actual := SanitizeFullLabelName("fooClientLABEL")
+	expected := "fooClientLABEL"
+	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeFullLabelName failed for label (%s)", expected)
+
+	actual = SanitizeFullLabelName("barClient.LABEL$$##")
+	expected = "barClient_LABEL____"
+	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeFullLabelName failed for label (%s)", expected)
+
+	actual = SanitizeFullLabelName("0zerothClient1LABEL")
+	expected = "_zerothClient1LABEL"
+	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeFullLabelName failed for label (%s)", expected)
+
+	actual = SanitizeFullLabelName("")
+	expected = "_"
+	require.Equal(t, expected, actual, "SanitizeFullLabelName failed for the empty label")
 }