diff --git a/docs/source/changes.md b/docs/source/changes.md
index 8cfff71f..fc439ba7 100644
--- a/docs/source/changes.md
+++ b/docs/source/changes.md
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ releases are available on [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pytask) and
   in pytask-parallel.
 - {pull}`611` removes the initial task execution status from
   `pytask_execute_task_log_start`.
+- {pull}`612` adds validation for data catalog names.
 
 ## 0.4.7 - 2024-03-19
 
diff --git a/src/_pytask/data_catalog.py b/src/_pytask/data_catalog.py
index 615fc021..d2993e60 100644
--- a/src/_pytask/data_catalog.py
+++ b/src/_pytask/data_catalog.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import hashlib
 import inspect
 import pickle
+import re
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
 
@@ -61,13 +62,26 @@ class DataCatalog:
 
     default_node: type[PNode] = PickleNode
     entries: dict[str, PNode | PProvisionalNode] = field(factory=dict)
-    name: str = "default"
+    name: str = field(default="default")
     path: Path | None = None
     _session_config: dict[str, Any] = field(
         factory=lambda *x: {"check_casing_of_paths": True}  # noqa: ARG005
     )
     _instance_path: Path = field(factory=_get_parent_path_of_data_catalog_module)
 
+    @name.validator
+    def _check(self, attribute: str, value: str) -> None:  # noqa: ARG002
+        _rich_traceback_omit = True
+        if not isinstance(value, str):
+            msg = "The name of a data catalog must be a string."
+            raise TypeError(msg)
+        if not re.match(r"[a-zA-Z0-9-_]+", value):
+            msg = (
+                "The name of a data catalog must be a string containing only letters, "
+                "numbers, hyphens, and underscores."
+            )
+            raise ValueError(msg)
+
     def __attrs_post_init__(self) -> None:
         root_path, _ = find_project_root_and_config((self._instance_path,))
         self._session_config["paths"] = (root_path,)
diff --git a/tests/test_data_catalog.py b/tests/test_data_catalog.py
index d6050cfe..28b7fdf5 100644
--- a/tests/test_data_catalog.py
+++ b/tests/test_data_catalog.py
@@ -234,3 +234,17 @@ def task_add_content(
     result = runner.invoke(cli, [tmp_path.as_posix()])
     assert result.exit_code == ExitCode.OK
     assert tmp_path.joinpath("output.txt").read_text() == "Hello, World!"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.end_to_end()
+def test_data_catalog_has_invalid_name(runner, tmp_path):
+    source = """
+    from pytask import DataCatalog
+
+    data_catalog = DataCatalog(name="?1")
+    """
+    tmp_path.joinpath("task_example.py").write_text(textwrap.dedent(source))
+
+    result = runner.invoke(cli, [tmp_path.as_posix()])
+    assert result.exit_code == ExitCode.COLLECTION_FAILED
+    assert "The name of a data catalog" in result.stdout