diff --git a/geonode/tests/test_utils.py b/geonode/tests/test_utils.py
index da8ada03a2e..53ba59924b5 100644
--- a/geonode/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/geonode/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -1,9 +1,15 @@
+import os
+import shutil
+import zipfile
+import tempfile
+
+from osgeo import ogr
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from geonode.br.management.commands.utils.utils import ignore_time
 from geonode.tests.base import GeoNodeBaseTestSupport
-from geonode.utils import copy_tree
+from geonode.utils import copy_tree, fixup_shp_columnnames, unzip_file
 
 
 class TestCopyTree(GeoNodeBaseTestSupport):
@@ -71,3 +77,35 @@ def test_backup_of_child_directories(
         """
         copy_tree('/src', '/dst', ignore=ignore_time('>=', datetime.now().isoformat()))
         self.assertTrue(patch_shutil_copytree.called)
+
+
+class TestFixupShp(GeoNodeBaseTestSupport):
+    def test_fixup_shp_columnnames(self):
+        project_root = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+        layer_zip = os.path.join(project_root, "data", "ming_female_1.zip")
+
+        self.failUnless(zipfile.is_zipfile(layer_zip))
+
+        layer_shp = unzip_file(layer_zip)
+
+        expected_fieldnames = [
+            "ID", "_f", "__1", "__2", "m", "_", "_M2", "_M2_1", "l", "x", "y", "_WU", "_1",
+        ]
+        _, _, fieldnames = fixup_shp_columnnames(layer_shp, "windows-1258")
+
+        inDriver = ogr.GetDriverByName("ESRI Shapefile")
+        inDataSource = inDriver.Open(layer_shp, 0)
+        inLayer = inDataSource.GetLayer()
+        inLayerDefn = inLayer.GetLayerDefn()
+
+        self.assertEqual(inLayerDefn.GetFieldCount(), len(expected_fieldnames))
+
+        for i, fn in enumerate(expected_fieldnames):
+            self.assertEqual(inLayerDefn.GetFieldDefn(i).GetName(), fn)
+
+        inDataSource.Destroy()
+
+        # Cleanup temp dir
+        shp_parent = os.path.dirname(layer_shp)
+        if shp_parent.startswith(tempfile.gettempdir()):
+            shutil.rmtree(shp_parent)
diff --git a/geonode/utils.py b/geonode/utils.py
index f08574a812e..c0bb12643bb 100755
--- a/geonode/utils.py
+++ b/geonode/utils.py
@@ -1118,6 +1118,32 @@ def check_shp_columnnames(layer):
         return fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, layer.charset)
 
 
+def clone_shp_field_defn(srcFieldDefn, name):
+    """
+    Clone an existing ogr.FieldDefn with a new name
+    """
+    dstFieldDefn = ogr.FieldDefn(name, srcFieldDefn.GetType())
+    dstFieldDefn.SetWidth(srcFieldDefn.GetWidth())
+    dstFieldDefn.SetPrecision(srcFieldDefn.GetPrecision())
+
+    return dstFieldDefn
+
+
+def rename_shp_columnnames(inLayer, fieldnames):
+    """
+    Rename columns in a layer to those specified in the given mapping
+    """
+    inLayerDefn = inLayer.GetLayerDefn()
+
+    for i in range(inLayerDefn.GetFieldCount()):
+        srcFieldDefn = inLayerDefn.GetFieldDefn(i)
+        dstFieldName = fieldnames.get(srcFieldDefn.GetName())
+
+        if dstFieldName is not None:
+            dstFieldDefn = clone_shp_field_defn(srcFieldDefn, dstFieldName)
+            inLayer.AlterFieldDefn(i, dstFieldDefn, ogr.ALTER_NAME_FLAG)
+
+
 def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
     """ Try to fix column names and warn the user
     """
@@ -1125,6 +1151,7 @@ def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
 
     if not tempdir:
         tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+
     if is_zipfile(inShapefile):
         inShapefile = unzip_file(inShapefile, '.shp', tempdir=tempdir)
 
@@ -1135,8 +1162,9 @@ def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
         tb = traceback.format_exc()
         logger.debug(tb)
         inDataSource = None
+
     if inDataSource is None:
-        logger.debug('Could not open %s' % (inShapefile))
+        logger.debug("Could not open {}".format(inShapefile))
         return False, None, None
     else:
         inLayer = inDataSource.GetLayer()
@@ -1153,7 +1181,7 @@ def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
     list_col_original = []
     list_col = {}
 
-    for i in range(0, inLayerDefn.GetFieldCount()):
+    for i in range(inLayerDefn.GetFieldCount()):
         try:
             field_name = inLayerDefn.GetFieldDefn(i).GetName()
             if a.match(field_name):
@@ -1162,21 +1190,12 @@ def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
             logger.exception(e)
             return True, None, None
 
-    for i in range(0, inLayerDefn.GetFieldCount()):
+    for i in range(inLayerDefn.GetFieldCount()):
         try:
             field_name = inLayerDefn.GetFieldDefn(i).GetName()
             if not a.match(field_name):
                 # once the field_name contains Chinese, to use slugify_zh
-                has_ch = False
-                for ch in field_name:
-                    try:
-                        if '\u4e00' <= ch.decode("utf-8", "surrogateescape") <= '\u9fff':
-                            has_ch = True
-                            break
-                    except Exception:
-                        has_ch = True
-                        break
-                if has_ch:
+                if any('\u4e00' <= ch <= '\u9fff' for ch in field_name):
                     new_field_name = slugify_zh(field_name, separator='_')
                 else:
                     new_field_name = slugify(field_name)
@@ -1189,7 +1208,8 @@ def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
                     if new_field_name.endswith('_' + str(j)):
                         j += 1
                         new_field_name = new_field_name[:-2] + '_' + str(j)
-                list_col.update({field_name: new_field_name})
+                if field_name != new_field_name:
+                    list_col[field_name] = new_field_name
         except Exception as e:
             logger.exception(e)
             return True, None, None
@@ -1198,9 +1218,9 @@ def fixup_shp_columnnames(inShapefile, charset, tempdir=None):
         return True, None, None
     else:
         try:
-            for key in list_col.keys():
-                qry = "ALTER TABLE \"{}\" RENAME COLUMN \"{}\" TO \"{}\"".format(inLayer.GetName(), key, list_col[key])
-                inDataSource.ExecuteSQL(qry)
+            rename_shp_columnnames(inLayer, list_col)
+            inDataSource.SyncToDisk()
+            inDataSource.Destroy()
         except Exception as e:
             logger.exception(e)
             raise GeoNodeException(