diff --git a/sahara/service/validations/clusters.py b/sahara/service/validations/clusters.py
index 50314222..b34bc4a2 100644
--- a/sahara/service/validations/clusters.py
+++ b/sahara/service/validations/clusters.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ def _build_cluster_schema():
         },
         "user_keypair_id": {
             "type": "string",
-            "format": "valid_name",
+            "format": "valid_keypair_name",
         },
         "cluster_template_id": {
             "type": "string",
diff --git a/sahara/tests/unit/service/validation/test_cluster_create_validation.py b/sahara/tests/unit/service/validation/test_cluster_create_validation.py
index 64e15dd7..5417c97f 100644
--- a/sahara/tests/unit/service/validation/test_cluster_create_validation.py
+++ b/sahara/tests/unit/service/validation/test_cluster_create_validation.py
@@ -122,16 +122,6 @@ class TestClusterCreateValidation(u.ValidationTestCase):
         )
 
     def test_cluster_create_v_keypair_type(self):
-        self._assert_create_object_validation(
-            data={
-                'name': "test-name",
-                'plugin_name': "vanilla",
-                'hadoop_version': "1.2.1",
-                'user_keypair_id': '1'
-            },
-            bad_req_i=(1, 'VALIDATION_ERROR',
-                       "'1' is not a 'valid_name'")
-        )
         self._assert_create_object_validation(
             data={
                 'name': "test-name",
@@ -139,7 +129,7 @@ class TestClusterCreateValidation(u.ValidationTestCase):
                 'hadoop_version': "1.2.1",
                 'user_keypair_id': '!'},
             bad_req_i=(1, 'VALIDATION_ERROR',
-                       "'!' is not a 'valid_name'")
+                       "'!' is not a 'valid_keypair_name'")
         )
 
     def test_cluster_create_v_image_exists(self):
diff --git a/sahara/tests/unit/utils/test_api_validator.py b/sahara/tests/unit/utils/test_api_validator.py
index 8c7766b5..4e30f74f 100644
--- a/sahara/tests/unit/utils/test_api_validator.py
+++ b/sahara/tests/unit/utils/test_api_validator.py
@@ -172,8 +172,8 @@ class ApiValidatorTest(testtools.TestCase):
         self._validate_success(schema, "hadoop-examples-1.2.1.jar")
         self._validate_success(schema, "hadoop-examples-1.2.1")
         self._validate_success(schema, "hadoop-examples-1.2.1.")
-        self._validate_failure(schema, "1")
-        self._validate_failure(schema, "1a")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "1")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "1a")
         self._validate_success(schema, "a1")
         self._validate_success(schema, "A1")
         self._validate_success(schema, "A1B")
@@ -182,6 +182,43 @@ class ApiValidatorTest(testtools.TestCase):
         self._validate_success(schema, "a._.b")
         self._validate_success(schema, "a_")
         self._validate_success(schema, "a-b-001")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "-aaaa-bbbb")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, ".aaaa-bbbb")
+
+        self._validate_failure(schema, None)
+        self._validate_failure(schema, 1)
+        self._validate_failure(schema, ["1"])
+
+    def test_validate_valid_keypair_name(self):
+        schema = {
+            "type": "string",
+            "format": "valid_keypair_name",
+        }
+
+        self._validate_success(schema, "abcd")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "abcd123")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "abcd-123")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "abcd_123")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "_123")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "a" * 64)
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "hadoop-examples-1.2.1.jar")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "hadoop-examples-1.2.1")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "hadoop-examples-1.2.1.")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "1")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "1a")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "a1")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "A1")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "A1B")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "a.b")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "a..b")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, "a._.b")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "a_")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "a-b-001")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "-aaaa-bbbb")
+        self._validate_success(schema, "-aaaa bbbb")
+        self._validate_success(schema, " -aaaa bbbb")
+        self._validate_failure(schema, ".aaaa-bbbb")
 
         self._validate_failure(schema, None)
         self._validate_failure(schema, 1)
diff --git a/sahara/utils/api_validator.py b/sahara/utils/api_validator.py
index 792e586b..c278754a 100644
--- a/sahara/utils/api_validator.py
+++ b/sahara/utils/api_validator.py
@@ -40,7 +40,18 @@ def validate_name_format(entry):
         # shoud fail type validation
         return True
 
-    res = re.match(r"^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9\-_\.]*$", entry)
+    res = re.match(r"^[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9\-_\.]*$", entry)
+    return res is not None
+
+
+@jsonschema.FormatChecker.cls_checks('valid_keypair_name')
+def validate_keypair_name_format(entry):
+    if not isinstance(entry, six.string_types):
+        # should fail type validation
+        return True
+
+    # this follows the validation put forth by nova for keypair names
+    res = re.match(r'^[a-zA-Z0-9\-_ ]+$', entry)
     return res is not None