--- a/toolkit/components/telemetry/histogram_tools.py
+++ b/toolkit/components/telemetry/histogram_tools.py
@@ -243,16 +243,24 @@ associated with the histogram.  Returns 
     def check_name(self, name):
         if '#' in name:
             raise ValueError, '"#" not permitted for %s' % (name)
 
         # Avoid C++ identifier conflicts between histogram enums and label enum names.
         if name.startswith("LABELS_"):
             raise ValueError, "Histogram name '%s' can not start with LABELS_" % (name)
 
+        # To make it easier to generate C++ identifiers from this etc., we restrict
+        # the histogram names to a strict pattern.
+        # We skip this on the server to avoid failures with old Histogram.json revisions.
+        if self._strict_type_checks:
+            pattern = '^[a-z][a-z0-9_]+[a-z0-9]$'
+            if not re.match(pattern, name, re.IGNORECASE):
+                raise ValueError, "Histogram name '%s' doesn't confirm to '%s'" % (name, pattern)
+
     def check_expiration(self, name, definition):
         expiration = definition.get('expires_in_version')
 
         if not expiration:
             return
 
         if re.match(r'^[1-9][0-9]*$', expiration):
             expiration = expiration + ".0a1"