diff --git a/src/org/labkey/test/util/TestDataGenerator.java b/src/org/labkey/test/util/TestDataGenerator.java
index f5c22f11d9..8d73cd824a 100644
--- a/src/org/labkey/test/util/TestDataGenerator.java
+++ b/src/org/labkey/test/util/TestDataGenerator.java
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
+import static org.labkey.test.BaseWebDriverTest.ILLEGAL_QUERY_KEY_CHARACTERS;
+
 
 /**
  * Use this class to generate random test data for a given column schema
@@ -355,6 +357,15 @@ public static String randomDomainName(int size)
         return domainName;
     }
 
+    public static String randomFieldName(String part)
+    {
+        // use the characters that we know are encoded in fieldKeys plus characters that we know clients are using
+        String chars = StringUtils.join(ILLEGAL_QUERY_KEY_CHARACTERS, "") + " %()=+-[]_|*`'\":;<>?!@#^";
+        int startChars = randomInt(0, 5);
+        int endChars = randomInt(0, 5);
+        return (randomString(startChars, null, chars) + part + randomString(endChars, null, chars)).trim();
+    }
+
     public static int randomInt(int min, int max)
     {
         if (min >= max)