diff --git a/lib/gitlab/regex.rb b/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
index d18fc8bf2cecbe21bbbd5da692eaf83e32c48638..e932b64f4f0ce1ac5a4e038e5360cc2009a98a92 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ module Gitlab
     end
 
     def project_name_regex
-      /\A[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_\-\. ]*\z/
+      /\A[a-zA-Z0-9_][a-zA-Z0-9_\-\. ]*\z/
     end
 
     def name_regex
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ module Gitlab
     protected
 
     def default_regex
-      /\A[.?]?[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]*(?<!\.git)\z/
+      /\A[.?]?[a-zA-Z0-9_][a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]*(?<!\.git)\z/
     end
   end
 end