diff --git a/src/org/labkey/test/util/TestDataGenerator.java b/src/org/labkey/test/util/TestDataGenerator.java
index f5c22f11d9..970a77f0ff 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.ALL_ILLEGAL_QUERY_KEY_CHARACTERS;
+
 
 /**
  * Use this class to generate random test data for a given column schema
@@ -355,6 +357,19 @@ public static String randomDomainName(int size)
         return domainName;
     }
 
+    public static String randomFieldName(String part)
+    {
+        return randomFieldName(part, randomInt(0, 5), randomInt(0, 5));
+    }
+    public static String randomFieldName(String part, int numStartChars, int numEndChars)
+    {
+        // use the characters that we know are encoded in fieldKeys plus characters that we know clients are using
+        String chars = ALL_ILLEGAL_QUERY_KEY_CHARACTERS + " %()=+-[]_|*`'\":;<>?!@#^";
+        String randomFieldName = (randomString(numStartChars, null, chars) + part + randomString(numEndChars, null, chars)).trim();
+        TestLogger.log("Generated random field name: " + randomFieldName);
+        return randomFieldName;
+    }
+
     public static int randomInt(int min, int max)
     {
         if (min >= max)