diff --git a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.cc b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.cc
index 7771643c7d..5b5b2f0a16 100644
--- a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.cc
+++ b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.cc
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include <cassert>
 #include <cstring>
 #include <limits>
+#include <locale>
 #include <memory>
 #include <string>
 #include <unordered_map>
@@ -608,6 +609,22 @@ bool ParserImpl::RegisterUserAndStructMemberNames() {
   return true;
 }
 
+bool ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier(const std::string& str) {
+  if (str.empty()) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  std::locale c_locale("C");
+  if (!std::isalpha(str[0], c_locale)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  for (const char& ch : str) {
+    if ((ch != '_') && !std::isalnum(ch, c_locale)) {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
 bool ParserImpl::EmitEntryPoints() {
   for (const spvtools::opt::Instruction& entry_point :
        module_->entry_points()) {
@@ -616,6 +633,11 @@ bool ParserImpl::EmitEntryPoints() {
     const std::string ep_name = entry_point.GetOperand(2).AsString();
     const std::string name = namer_.GetName(function_id);
 
+    if (!IsValidIdentifier(ep_name)) {
+      return Fail() << "entry point name is not a valid WGSL identifier: "
+                    << ep_name;
+    }
+
     ast_module_.AddEntryPoint(std::make_unique<ast::EntryPoint>(
         enum_converter_.ToPipelineStage(stage), ep_name, name));
   }
diff --git a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.h b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.h
index deeed0ad98..649bdc0902 100644
--- a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.h
+++ b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl.h
@@ -372,6 +372,10 @@ class ParserImpl : Reader {
   /// @return the Source record, or a default one
   Source GetSourceForInst(const spvtools::opt::Instruction* inst) const;
 
+  /// @param str a candidate identifier
+  /// @returns true if the given string is a valid WGSL identifier.
+  static bool IsValidIdentifier(const std::string& str);
+
  private:
   /// Converts a specific SPIR-V type to a Tint type. Integer case
   ast::type::Type* ConvertType(const spvtools::opt::analysis::Integer* int_ty);
diff --git a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_entry_point_test.cc b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_entry_point_test.cc
index 30dbebc320..507e5f1a72 100644
--- a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_entry_point_test.cc
+++ b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_entry_point_test.cc
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ namespace reader {
 namespace spirv {
 namespace {
 
+using ::testing::Eq;
 using ::testing::HasSubstr;
 
 std::string MakeEntryPoint(const std::string& stage,
@@ -81,13 +82,11 @@ TEST_F(SpvParserTest, EntryPoint_MultiNameConflict) {
               HasSubstr(R"(EntryPoint{fragment as work = work_2})"));
 }
 
-TEST_F(SpvParserTest, EntryPoint_NameIsSanitized) {
+TEST_F(SpvParserTest, EntryPoint_MustBeWgslIdentifier) {
   auto* p = parser(test::Assemble(MakeEntryPoint("GLCompute", ".1234")));
-  EXPECT_TRUE(p->BuildAndParseInternalModule());
-  EXPECT_TRUE(p->error().empty());
-  const auto module_str = p->module().to_str();
-  EXPECT_THAT(module_str,
-              HasSubstr(R"(EntryPoint{compute as .1234 = x_1234})"));
+  EXPECT_FALSE(p->BuildAndParseInternalModule());
+  EXPECT_THAT(p->error(),
+              Eq("entry point name is not a valid WGSL identifier: .1234"));
 }
 
 }  // namespace
diff --git a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_test.cc b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_test.cc
index d1facdc7f2..fa35918aaf 100644
--- a/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_test.cc
+++ b/src/reader/spirv/parser_impl_test.cc
@@ -205,6 +205,27 @@ TEST_F(SpvParserTest, Impl_Source_InvalidId) {
   EXPECT_EQ(0u, s99.column);
 }
 
+TEST_F(SpvParserTest, Impl_IsValidIdentifier) {
+  EXPECT_FALSE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier(""));     // empty
+  EXPECT_FALSE(
+      ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("_"));  // leading underscore, but ok later
+  EXPECT_FALSE(
+      ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("9"));  // leading digit, but ok later
+  EXPECT_FALSE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier(" "));    // leading space
+  EXPECT_FALSE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("a "));   // trailing space
+  EXPECT_FALSE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("a 1"));  // space in the middle
+  EXPECT_FALSE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("."));    // weird character
+
+  // a simple identifier
+  EXPECT_TRUE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("A"));
+  // each upper case letter
+  EXPECT_TRUE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"));
+  // each lower case letter
+  EXPECT_TRUE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"));
+  EXPECT_TRUE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("a0123456789"));  // each digit
+  EXPECT_TRUE(ParserImpl::IsValidIdentifier("x_"));           // has underscore
+}
+
 }  // namespace
 }  // namespace spirv
 }  // namespace reader