diff --git a/pyxform/entities/entities_parsing.py b/pyxform/entities/entities_parsing.py
index 7f6b9460..2ca256ee 100644
--- a/pyxform/entities/entities_parsing.py
+++ b/pyxform/entities/entities_parsing.py
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ def get_entity_declaration(workbook_dict: Dict, warnings: List) -> Dict:
             f"Invalid dataset name: '{dataset}' starts with reserved prefix {constants.ENTITIES_RESERVED_PREFIX}."
         )
 
+    if "." in dataset:
+        raise PyXFormError(
+            f"Invalid dataset name: '{dataset}'. Dataset names may not include periods."
+        )
+
     if not is_valid_xml_tag(dataset):
         if isinstance(dataset, bytes):
             dataset = dataset.encode("utf-8")
diff --git a/tests/test_entities.py b/tests/test_entities.py
index 2b99db69..3fc5237f 100644
--- a/tests/test_entities.py
+++ b/tests/test_entities.py
@@ -85,6 +85,23 @@ def test_dataset_with_invalid_xml_name__errors(self):
             ],
         )
 
+    def test_dataset_with_period_in_name__errors(self):
+        self.assertPyxformXform(
+            name="data",
+            md="""
+            | survey   |         |       |       |
+            |          | type    | name  | label |
+            |          | text    | a     | A     |
+            | entities |         |       |       |
+            |          | dataset | label |       |
+            |          | s.w.eet | a     |       |
+            """,
+            errored=True,
+            error__contains=[
+                "Invalid dataset name: 's.w.eet'. Dataset names may not include periods."
+            ],
+        )
+
     def test_worksheet_name_close_to_entities__produces_warning(self):
         self.assertPyxformXform(
             name="data",