diff --git a/modules/performFEM/surrogateGP/gpPredict.py b/modules/performFEM/surrogateGP/gpPredict.py
index 5582a5414..1d6ff956c 100644
--- a/modules/performFEM/surrogateGP/gpPredict.py
+++ b/modules/performFEM/surrogateGP/gpPredict.py
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ def get_stochastic_variance(X, Y, x, ny):  # noqa: N803
                 not name_values[1]
                 .replace('.', '', 1)
                 .replace('e', '', 1)
-                .replace('-', '', 1)
+                .replace('-', '', 2)
                 .replace('+', '', 1)
                 .isdigit()
             ):