diff --git a/internal/util/validation.go b/internal/util/validation.go
index 11c9e46..d0f8687 100644
--- a/internal/util/validation.go
+++ b/internal/util/validation.go
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ package util
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"regexp"
+
+	uuid "github.com/satori/go.uuid"
 )
 
 var nameRegexp = regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*([-]?[a-zA-Z0-9]+)+$`)
@@ -26,5 +28,10 @@ var (
 )
 
 func ValidateName(s string) bool {
+	// names that are valid uuids are not valid. This is needed to accept both
+	// names or uuid in rest APIs
+	if _, err := uuid.FromString(s); err == nil {
+		return false
+	}
 	return nameRegexp.MatchString(s)
 }
diff --git a/internal/util/validation_test.go b/internal/util/validation_test.go
index 986fe85..e20c362 100644
--- a/internal/util/validation_test.go
+++ b/internal/util/validation_test.go
@@ -25,6 +25,10 @@ var (
 		"foo-1",
 		"foo-1-bar",
 		"f12oo-bar33",
+		"cba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c",
+		"cba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4000c04fd430c8",
+		"cba7b8109dad11d180b400c04fd430c89",
+		"cba7b8109dad11d180b400c04fd430c",
 	}
 	badNames = []string{
 		"",
@@ -40,6 +44,10 @@ var (
 		"foo_bar",
 		"foo#bar",
 		"1foobar",
+		"cba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8",
+		"{cba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8}",
+		"urn:uuid:cba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8",
+		"cba7b8109dad11d180b400c04fd430c8",
 	}
 )