diff --git a/bats/empty-repo.bats b/bats/empty-repo.bats
index 58584a2151..5ae5bb4626 100755
--- a/bats/empty-repo.bats
+++ b/bats/empty-repo.bats
@@ -203,9 +203,8 @@ teardown() {
     [ "$output" = "" ]
 }
 
-@test "unsupported branch characters" {
-    run dolt branch "are.dots.supported"
-    skip "branch names with . panic right now"
-    [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-    [ "$output" = "" ]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+@test "branch names do not support ." {
+    run dolt branch "dots.are.not.supported"
+    [ "$status" -eq 1 ]
+    [ "$output" = "fatal: 'dots.are.not.supported' is an invalid branch name." ]
+}
diff --git a/go/go.sum b/go/go.sum
index d1be1c6aa1..5293959f49 100644
--- a/go/go.sum
+++ b/go/go.sum
@@ -260,6 +260,8 @@ github.com/liquidata-inc/go-mysql-server v0.4.1-0.20191003230430-3a1a09c79ada h1
 github.com/liquidata-inc/go-mysql-server v0.4.1-0.20191003230430-3a1a09c79ada/go.mod h1:DdWE0ku/mNfuLsRJIrHeHpDtB7am+6oopxEsQKmVkx8=
 github.com/liquidata-inc/go-mysql-server v0.4.1-0.20191017183442-4b9329eafa5b h1:fdht6iaUhHYJEfSUY1m1KAghyi6zfyfv+12gaSsaQ+o=
 github.com/liquidata-inc/go-mysql-server v0.4.1-0.20191017183442-4b9329eafa5b/go.mod h1:DdWE0ku/mNfuLsRJIrHeHpDtB7am+6oopxEsQKmVkx8=
+github.com/liquidata-inc/go-mysql-server v0.4.1-0.20191102000214-fa72192f51a9 h1:Pux1QrTx2Q2WF0Ayyz9doIlYJP/REAhfRP7mRyoiowE=
+github.com/liquidata-inc/go-mysql-server v0.4.1-0.20191102000214-fa72192f51a9/go.mod h1:DdWE0ku/mNfuLsRJIrHeHpDtB7am+6oopxEsQKmVkx8=
 github.com/liquidata-inc/ishell v0.0.0-20190514193646-693241f1f2a0 h1:phMgajKClMUiIr+hF2LGt8KRuUa2Vd2GI1sNgHgSXoU=
 github.com/liquidata-inc/ishell v0.0.0-20190514193646-693241f1f2a0/go.mod h1:YC1rI9k5gx8D02ljlbxDfZe80s/iq8bGvaaQsvR+qxs=
 github.com/liquidata-inc/mmap-go v1.0.3 h1:2LndAeAtup9rpvUmu4wZSYCsjCQ0Zpc+NqE+6+PnT7g=
diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname.go
index edbbfacf46..88f6e2a07e 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname.go
@@ -21,12 +21,12 @@ import (
 
 // The following list of patterns are all forbidden in a branch name.
 var InvalidBranchNameRegex = regexp.MustCompile(strings.Join([]string{
+	// Any appearance of a period, currently unsupported by noms layer
+	`[.*]`,
 	// Any appearance of the following characters: :, ?, [, \, ^, ~, SPACE, TAB, *
 	`:`, `\?`, `\[`, `\\`, `\^`, `~`, ` `, `\t`, `\*`,
 	// Any ASCII control character.
 	`[\x00-\x1f]`, `\x7f`,
-	// Any component starting with a "."
-	`\A\.`, `/\.`,
 	// Any component ending with ".lock"
 	`\.lock\z`, `\.lock\/`,
 	// An exact name of "", "HEAD" or "-"
diff --git a/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname_test.go b/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname_test.go
index f79950f6e2..d573f5befa 100644
--- a/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname_test.go
+++ b/go/libraries/doltcore/ref/branchname_test.go
@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ func TestBranchName(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, true, IsValidBranchName("☃️"))
 	assert.Equal(t, true, IsValidBranchName("user/in-progress/do-some-things"))
 	assert.Equal(t, true, IsValidBranchName("user/in-progress/{}"))
-	assert.Equal(t, true, IsValidBranchName("user/{/a.tt/}"))
 
+	assert.Equal(t, false, IsValidBranchName("user/{/a.tt/}"))
 	assert.Equal(t, false, IsValidBranchName(""))
 	assert.Equal(t, false, IsValidBranchName("this-is-a-..-test"))
 	assert.Equal(t, false, IsValidBranchName("this-is-a-@{-test"))