diff --git a/src/libmdb/backend.c b/src/libmdb/backend.c
index 0820bd5..bfe6325 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/backend.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/backend.c
@@ -151,8 +151,10 @@ char* sanitize_name(const char* str)
 	if (*str) {
 		*p = isalpha(*str) ? *str : '_';
 		p++;
+        if (!isdigit(*str))  /* if it was a digit, keep it */
 		str++;
 	}
+
 	while (*str) {
 		*p = isalnum(*str) ? *str : '_';
 		p++;
@@ -160,6 +162,7 @@ char* sanitize_name(const char* str)
 	}
 
 	*p = 0;
+
 	return result;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util/mdb-schema.c b/src/util/mdb-schema.c
index 8ec3f84..fe68c7b 100644
--- a/src/util/mdb-schema.c
+++ b/src/util/mdb-schema.c
@@ -132,19 +132,18 @@ generate_table_schema(MdbCatalogEntry *entry, char *namespace, int sanitize)
 	char* quoted_name;
 	char* sql_sequences;
 
-	if (namespace) {
-		table_name = malloc(strlen(namespace)+strlen(entry->object_name)+1);
-		strcpy(table_name, namespace);
-		strcat(table_name, entry->object_name);
-	} else
-	{
-		table_name = strdup(entry->object_name);
-	}
 	if (sanitize)
-		quoted_table_name = sanitize_name(table_name);
+		quoted_table_name = sanitize_name(entry->object_name);
 	else
-		quoted_table_name = mdb->default_backend->quote_name(table_name);
-	free(table_name);
+		quoted_table_name = mdb->default_backend->quote_name(entry->object_name);
+
+	if (namespace) {
+		table_name = malloc(strlen(namespace)+strlen(quoted_table_name)+1);
+		strcpy(table_name, namespace);
+		strcat(table_name, quoted_table_name);
+		free(quoted_table_name);
+		quoted_table_name = table_name;
+	}
 
 	/* drop the table if it exists */
 	fprintf (stdout, "DROP TABLE %s;\n", quoted_table_name);