diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/lib/data-source.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/lib/data-source.ts
index b7570be255fac..c89479c4ef69b 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/lib/data-source.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/lib/data-source.ts
@@ -111,7 +111,8 @@ export abstract class BaseDataSource extends CoreConstruct {
     if (extended.type !== 'NONE') {
       this.serviceRole = props.serviceRole || new Role(this, 'ServiceRole', { assumedBy: new ServicePrincipal('appsync') });
     }
-    const name = props.name ?? id;
+    // Replace unsupported characters from DataSource name. The only allowed pattern is: {[_A-Za-z][_0-9A-Za-z]*}
+    const name = (props.name ?? id).replace(/[\W]+/g, '');
     this.ds = new CfnDataSource(this, 'Resource', {
       apiId: props.api.apiId,
       name: name,
diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/test/appsync-lambda.test.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/test/appsync-lambda.test.ts
index b714b0f28cef9..786937eaee629 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/test/appsync-lambda.test.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk/aws-appsync/test/appsync-lambda.test.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,42 @@ describe('Lambda Data Source configuration', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  test('appsync sanitized datasource name from unsupported characters', () => {
+    const badCharacters = [...'!@#$%^&*()+-=[]{}\\|;:\'",<>?/'];
+
+    badCharacters.forEach((badCharacter) => {
+      // WHEN
+      const newStack = new cdk.Stack();
+      const graphqlapi = new appsync.GraphqlApi(newStack, 'baseApi', {
+        name: 'api',
+        schema: appsync.Schema.fromAsset(path.join(__dirname, 'appsync.test.graphql')),
+      });
+      const dummyFunction = new lambda.Function(newStack, 'func', {
+        code: lambda.Code.fromAsset(path.join(__dirname, 'verify/iam-query')),
+        handler: 'iam-query.handler',
+        runtime: lambda.Runtime.NODEJS_12_X,
+      });
+      graphqlapi.addLambdaDataSource(`data-${badCharacter}-source`, dummyFunction);
+
+      // THEN
+      Template.fromStack(newStack).hasResourceProperties('AWS::AppSync::DataSource', {
+        Type: 'AWS_LAMBDA',
+        Name: 'datasource',
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('appsync leaves underscore untouched in datasource name', () => {
+    // WHEN
+    api.addLambdaDataSource('data_source', func);
+
+    // THEN
+    Template.fromStack(stack).hasResourceProperties('AWS::AppSync::DataSource', {
+      Type: 'AWS_LAMBDA',
+      Name: 'data_source',
+    });
+  });
+
   test('appsync errors when creating multiple lambda data sources with no configuration', () => {
     // THEN
     expect(() => {