diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group.go
index 72101ac908..b4f07e43de 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group.go
@@ -25,33 +25,10 @@ func resourceAwsDbParameterGroup() *schema.Resource {
 		Delete: resourceAwsDbParameterGroupDelete,
 		Schema: map[string]*schema.Schema{
 			"name": &schema.Schema{
-				Type:     schema.TypeString,
-				ForceNew: true,
-				Required: true,
-				ValidateFunc: func(v interface{}, k string) (ws []string, errors []error) {
-					value := v.(string)
-					if !regexp.MustCompile(`^[0-9a-z-]+$`).MatchString(value) {
-						errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
-							"only lowercase alphanumeric characters and hyphens allowed in %q", k))
-					}
-					if !regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-z]`).MatchString(value) {
-						errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
-							"first character of %q must be a letter", k))
-					}
-					if regexp.MustCompile(`--`).MatchString(value) {
-						errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
-							"%q cannot contain two consecutive hyphens", k))
-					}
-					if regexp.MustCompile(`-$`).MatchString(value) {
-						errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
-							"%q cannot end with a hyphen", k))
-					}
-					if len(value) > 255 {
-						errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
-							"%q cannot be greater than 255 characters", k))
-					}
-					return
-				},
+				Type:         schema.TypeString,
+				ForceNew:     true,
+				Required:     true,
+				ValidateFunc: validateDbParamGroupName,
 			},
 			"family": &schema.Schema{
 				Type:     schema.TypeString,
@@ -252,3 +229,29 @@ func resourceAwsDbParameterHash(v interface{}) int {
 
 	return hashcode.String(buf.String())
 }
+
+func validateDbParamGroupName(v interface{}, k string) (ws []string, errors []error) {
+	value := v.(string)
+	if !regexp.MustCompile(`^[0-9a-z-]+$`).MatchString(value) {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
+			"only lowercase alphanumeric characters and hyphens allowed in %q", k))
+	}
+	if !regexp.MustCompile(`^[a-z]`).MatchString(value) {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
+			"first character of %q must be a letter", k))
+	}
+	if regexp.MustCompile(`--`).MatchString(value) {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
+			"%q cannot contain two consecutive hyphens", k))
+	}
+	if regexp.MustCompile(`-$`).MatchString(value) {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
+			"%q cannot end with a hyphen", k))
+	}
+	if len(value) > 255 {
+		errors = append(errors, fmt.Errorf(
+			"%q cannot be greater than 255 characters", k))
+	}
+	return
+
+}
diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group_test.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group_test.go
index 93e74bb748..d0042df232 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group_test.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_db_parameter_group_test.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package aws
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"math/rand"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr"
@@ -106,6 +108,46 @@ func TestAccAWSDBParameterGroupOnly(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestResourceAWSDBParameterGroupName_validation(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		Value    string
+		ErrCount int
+	}{
+		{
+			Value:    "tEsting123",
+			ErrCount: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			Value:    "testing123!",
+			ErrCount: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			Value:    "1testing123",
+			ErrCount: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			Value:    "testing--123",
+			ErrCount: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			Value:    "testing123-",
+			ErrCount: 1,
+		},
+		{
+			Value:    randomString(256),
+			ErrCount: 1,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		_, errors := validateDbParamGroupName(tc.Value, "aws_db_parameter_group_name")
+
+		if len(errors) != tc.ErrCount {
+			t.Fatalf("Expected the DB Parameter Group Name to trigger a validation error")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func testAccCheckAWSDBParameterGroupDestroy(s *terraform.State) error {
 	conn := testAccProvider.Meta().(*AWSClient).rdsconn
 
@@ -193,6 +235,16 @@ func testAccCheckAWSDBParameterGroupExists(n string, v *rds.DBParameterGroup) re
 	}
 }
 
+func randomString(strlen int) string {
+	rand.Seed(time.Now().UTC().UnixNano())
+	const chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
+	result := make([]byte, strlen)
+	for i := 0; i < strlen; i++ {
+		result[i] = chars[rand.Intn(len(chars))]
+	}
+	return string(result)
+}
+
 const testAccAWSDBParameterGroupConfig = `
 resource "aws_db_parameter_group" "bar" {
 	name = "parameter-group-test-terraform"