diff --git a/cmd/fsi_integration_test.go b/cmd/fsi_integration_test.go
index d1b556545..990f98c20 100644
--- a/cmd/fsi_integration_test.go
+++ b/cmd/fsi_integration_test.go
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ func TestInitBadName(t *testing.T) {
 	_ = run.CreateAndChdirToWorkDir("invalid_dataset_name")
 
 	// Init with an invalid dataset name
-	err := run.ExecCommand("qri init --name invalid-dataset-name --format csv")
+	err := run.ExecCommand("qri init --name invalid=dataset=name --format csv")
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("expected error trying to init, did not get an error")
 	}
diff --git a/dsref/parse.go b/dsref/parse.go
index 5ebefc06f..56c384da5 100644
--- a/dsref/parse.go
+++ b/dsref/parse.go
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ import (
 //     /ipfs/QmSome1Commit2Hash3
 
 const (
-	alphaNumeric       = `[a-zA-Z]\w*`
-	alphaNumericDsname = `[a-zA-Z]\w{0,143}`
+	alphaNumeric       = `[a-zA-Z][\w-]*`
+	alphaNumericDsname = `[a-zA-Z][\w-]{0,143}`
 	b58Id              = `Qm[0-9a-zA-Z]{0,44}`
 )
 
diff --git a/dsref/parse_test.go b/dsref/parse_test.go
index 558f36df7..d17612b1a 100644
--- a/dsref/parse_test.go
+++ b/dsref/parse_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
 		{"right hand side", "@QmFirst/ipfs/QmSecond", Ref{ProfileID: "QmFirst", Path: "/ipfs/QmSecond"}},
 		{"just path", "@/ipfs/QmSecond", Ref{Path: "/ipfs/QmSecond"}},
 		{"long name", "peer/some_name@/map/QmXATayrFgsS3tpCi2ykfpNJ8uiCWT74dttnvJvVo1J7Rn", Ref{Username: "peer", Name: "some_name", Path: "/map/QmXATayrFgsS3tpCi2ykfpNJ8uiCWT74dttnvJvVo1J7Rn"}},
+		{"name-has-dash", "abc/my-dataset", Ref{Username: "abc", Name: "my-dataset"}},
+		{"dash-in-username", "some-user/my_dataset", Ref{Username: "some-user", Name: "my_dataset"}},
 	}
 	for i, c := range goodCases {
 		ref, err := Parse(c.text)
@@ -41,6 +43,8 @@ func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
 		{"local filename", "foo.json", "parsing ref, unexpected character at position 0: 'f'"},
 		{"absolute filepath", "/usr/local/bin/file.cbor", "parsing ref, unexpected character at position 0: '/'"},
 		{"absolute dirname", "/usr/local/bin", "parsing ref, unexpected character at position 0: '/'"},
+		{"dot in dataset", "abc/data.set", "parsing ref, unexpected character at position 8: '.'"},
+		{"equals in dataset", "abc/my=ds", "parsing ref, unexpected character at position 6: '='"},
 	}
 	for i, c := range badCases {
 		_, err := Parse(c.text)