diff --git a/src/pkg/bundle/create.go b/src/pkg/bundle/create.go
index 51cf89be..984c5d56 100644
--- a/src/pkg/bundle/create.go
+++ b/src/pkg/bundle/create.go
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ func (b *Bundle) Create() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// validate bundle name to avoid bad characters
+	name, err := utils.FormatBundleName(b.bundle.Metadata.Name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	b.bundle.Metadata.Name = name
+
 	// confirm creation
 	if ok := b.confirmBundleCreation(); !ok {
 		return fmt.Errorf("bundle creation cancelled")
diff --git a/src/pkg/utils/utils.go b/src/pkg/utils/utils.go
index 6b8859f4..e119e813 100644
--- a/src/pkg/utils/utils.go
+++ b/src/pkg/utils/utils.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ package utils
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
@@ -223,3 +224,15 @@ func JSONValue(value any) (string, error) {
 	}
 	return string(bytes), nil
 }
+
+// formatBundleName first validates the bundle name does not have bad characters
+// and then returns a lowercased version, with spaces (" ") replaced with "-".
+func FormatBundleName(src string) (string, error) {
+	if regexp.MustCompile(`[^a-zA-Z0-9 -]+`).MatchString(src) {
+		return "", errors.New("bundle names should only include letters, numbers, and hypens")
+	}
+	src = strings.TrimSpace(src)
+	src = regexp.MustCompile(` +`).ReplaceAllString(src, "-")
+	src = strings.ToLower(src)
+	return src, nil
+}
diff --git a/src/pkg/utils/utils_test.go b/src/pkg/utils/utils_test.go
index 73adff15..196071bd 100644
--- a/src/pkg/utils/utils_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/utils/utils_test.go
@@ -88,3 +88,55 @@ func Test_IsRegistryURL(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func Test_formatBundleName(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := map[string]struct {
+		src       string
+		expected  string
+		shouldErr bool // not used yet
+	}{
+		"valid": {
+			src:      "wordpress",
+			expected: "wordpress",
+		},
+		"valid mixed caps": {
+			src:      "woRdprEsS",
+			expected: "wordpress",
+		},
+		"valid spaces": {
+			src:      "woRdprEsS version 1",
+			expected: "wordpress-version-1",
+		},
+		"valid leading spaces": {
+			// leading spaces trimmed but the space after the first "-" is
+			// converted to "-"
+			src:      "   - woRdprEsS version 1    ",
+			expected: "--wordpress-version-1",
+		},
+		"invalid chars": {
+			src:       "woRdprEsS*version 1",
+			shouldErr: true,
+		},
+		"more invalid chars": {
+			src:       "&*^woRdprEsS*version 1",
+			shouldErr: true,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for name, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result, err := FormatBundleName(tt.src)
+			if tt.shouldErr && err != nil {
+				// expected error
+				return
+			}
+			if tt.shouldErr && err == nil {
+				t.Fatalf("expected error but got none")
+			}
+			if !tt.shouldErr && err != nil {
+				t.Fatalf("got error but expected none: %s", err)
+			}
+			require.Equal(t, tt.expected, result)
+		})
+	}
+}