diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 3a66b267..73c35fec 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 * Exporting a new dataset `dataset_spec` that contains the Dataset Specification for ADSL. (#179)
 
 * Added a check for character variable lengths up to 200 bytes in `xpt_validate()`(#91, #189).
+* File name check is moved to strict_checks condition to allow underscores in the file name. Underscores are allowed in xpt but not per FDA requirements. (#126)
 
 ## Deprecation and Breaking Changes
 
diff --git a/R/write.R b/R/write.R
index c9005471..ebe5e200 100644
--- a/R/write.R
+++ b/R/write.R
@@ -75,12 +75,12 @@ xportr_write <- function(.df,
     abort("`.df` file name must be 8 characters or less.")
   }
 
+  checks <- xpt_validate(.df)
+
   if (stringr::str_detect(name, "[^a-zA-Z0-9]")) {
-    abort("`.df` cannot contain any non-ASCII, symbol or underscore characters.")
+    checks <- c(checks, "`.df` cannot contain any non-ASCII, symbol or underscore characters.")
   }
 
-  checks <- xpt_validate(.df)
-
   if (length(checks) > 0) {
     if (!strict_checks) {
       warn(c("The following validation checks failed:", checks))
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-write.R b/tests/testthat/test-write.R
index 44e4718a..d53c7eb0 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-write.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-write.R
@@ -99,6 +99,15 @@ test_that("xportr_write: expect error when file name contains non-ASCII symbols
   expect_error(xportr_write(data_to_save, tmp))
 })
 
+test_that("xportr_write: expect warning when file name contains underscore and strict_checks = FALSE", {
+  tmpdir <- tempdir()
+  tmp <- file.path(tmpdir, "test_.xpt")
+
+  on.exit(unlink(tmpdir))
+
+  expect_warning(xportr_write(data_to_save, tmp, strict_checks = FALSE))
+})
+
 test_that("xportr_write: expect error when label contains non-ASCII symbols or special characters", {
   tmpdir <- tempdir()
   tmp <- file.path(tmpdir, "xyz.xpt")