diff --git a/sanic/base.py b/sanic/base.py
index 1489f54523..973b76ed6d 100644
--- a/sanic/base.py
+++ b/sanic/base.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from sanic.mixins.signals import SignalMixin
 
 
-VALID_NAME = re.compile(r"^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_\-]*$")
+VALID_NAME = re.compile(r"^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_\-]*$")
 
 
 class BaseSanic(