diff --git a/fixtures/exported.env b/fixtures/exported.env
index 5821377..a964bb5 100644
--- a/fixtures/exported.env
+++ b/fixtures/exported.env
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 export OPTION_A=2
 export OPTION_B='\n'
+export OPTION-C=123#12
diff --git a/godotenv_test.go b/godotenv_test.go
index c6d7e54..33b7a28 100644
--- a/godotenv_test.go
+++ b/godotenv_test.go
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ func TestLoadExportedEnv(t *testing.T) {
 	expectedValues := map[string]string{
 		"OPTION_A": "2",
 		"OPTION_B": "\\n",
+		"OPTION-C": "123#12",
 	}
 
 	loadEnvAndCompareValues(t, Load, envFileName, expectedValues, noopPresets)
@@ -582,42 +583,42 @@ func TestWhitespace(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		"Leading whitespace": {
 			input: " A=a\n",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"Leading tab": {
 			input: "\tA=a\n",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"Leading mixed whitespace": {
 			input: " \t \t\n\t \t A=a\n",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"Leading whitespace before export": {
 			input: " \t\t export    A=a\n",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"Trailing whitespace": {
 			input: "A=a \t \t\n",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"Trailing whitespace with export": {
 			input: "export A=a\t \t \n",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"No EOL": {
 			input: "A=a",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 		"Trailing whitespace with no EOL": {
 			input: "A=a ",
-			key: "A",
+			key:   "A",
 			value: "a",
 		},
 	}
diff --git a/parser.go b/parser.go
index cc709af..1a9e034 100644
--- a/parser.go
+++ b/parser.go
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ loop:
 		case '_':
 		default:
 			// variable name should match [A-Za-z0-9_.]
-			if unicode.IsLetter(rchar) || unicode.IsNumber(rchar) || rchar == '.' {
+			if unicode.IsLetter(rchar) || unicode.IsNumber(rchar) || rchar == '.' || rchar == '-' {
 				continue
 			}