diff --git a/graphstorm-processing/graphstorm_processing/distributed_executor.py b/graphstorm-processing/graphstorm_processing/distributed_executor.py
index c374056f56..580e07c8ce 100644
--- a/graphstorm-processing/graphstorm_processing/distributed_executor.py
+++ b/graphstorm-processing/graphstorm_processing/distributed_executor.py
@@ -563,6 +563,27 @@ def parse_args() -> argparse.Namespace:
 
     return parser.parse_args()
 
+def check_graph_name(graph_name):
+    """ Check whether the graph name is a valid graph name.
+
+        We enforce that the graph name adheres to the Python
+        identifier naming rules as in
+        https://docs.python.org/3/reference/lexical_analysis.html#identifiers,
+        with the exception that hyphens (-) are permitted.
+        This helps avoid the cases when an invalid graph name,
+        such as `/graph`, causes unexpected errors.
+
+        Note: Same as graphstorm.utils.check_graph_name.
+
+    Parameter
+    ---------
+    graph_name: str
+        Graph Name.
+    """
+    assert graph_name.replace('-', '_').isidentifier(), \
+        "GraphStorm expects the graph name adheres to the Python" \
+        "identifier naming rules with the exception that hyphens " \
+        f"(-) are permitted. But we get {graph_name}"
 
 def main():
     """Main entry point for GSProcessing"""
@@ -572,6 +593,7 @@ def main():
         level=gsprocessing_args.log_level,
         format="[GSPROCESSING] %(asctime)s %(levelname)-8s %(message)s",
     )
+    check_graph_name(gsprocessing_args.graph_name)
 
     # Determine execution environment
     if os.path.exists("/opt/ml/config/processingjobconfig.json"):
diff --git a/python/graphstorm/gconstruct/construct_graph.py b/python/graphstorm/gconstruct/construct_graph.py
index 9308c2003e..bf21c3f7dd 100644
--- a/python/graphstorm/gconstruct/construct_graph.py
+++ b/python/graphstorm/gconstruct/construct_graph.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 import dgl
 from dgl.distributed.constants import DEFAULT_NTYPE, DEFAULT_ETYPE
 
-from ..utils import sys_tracker, get_log_level
+from ..utils import sys_tracker, get_log_level, check_graph_name
 from .file_io import parse_node_file_format, parse_edge_file_format
 from .file_io import get_in_files
 from .transform import parse_feat_ops, process_features, preprocess_features
@@ -742,6 +742,7 @@ def print_graph_info(g, node_data, edge_data, node_label_stats, edge_label_stats
 def process_graph(args):
     """ Process the graph.
     """
+    check_graph_name(args.graph_name)
     logging.basicConfig(level=get_log_level(args.logging_level))
     with open(args.conf_file, 'r', encoding="utf8") as json_file:
         process_confs = json.load(json_file)
diff --git a/python/graphstorm/utils.py b/python/graphstorm/utils.py
index e54027178f..a58c9daafd 100644
--- a/python/graphstorm/utils.py
+++ b/python/graphstorm/utils.py
@@ -31,6 +31,26 @@
 USE_WHOLEGRAPH = False
 GS_DEVICE = th.device('cpu')
 
+def check_graph_name(graph_name):
+    """ Check whether the graph name is a valid graph name.
+
+        We enforce that the graph name adheres to the Python
+        identifier naming rules as in
+        https://docs.python.org/3/reference/lexical_analysis.html#identifiers,
+        with the exception that hyphens (-) are permitted.
+        This helps avoid the cases when an invalid graph name,
+        such as `/graph`, causes unexpected errors.
+
+    Parameter
+    ---------
+    graph_name: str
+        Graph Name.
+    """
+    assert graph_name.replace('-', '_').isidentifier(), \
+        "GraphStorm expects the graph name adheres to the Python" \
+        "identifier naming rules with the exception that hyphens " \
+        f"(-) are permitted. But we get {graph_name}"
+
 def get_graph_name(part_config):
     """ Get graph name from graph partition config file
 
@@ -45,7 +65,9 @@ def get_graph_name(part_config):
     """
     with open(part_config, "r", encoding='utf-8') as f:
         config = json.load(f)
-    return config["graph_name"]
+    graph_name = config["graph_name"]
+    check_graph_name(graph_name)
+    return graph_name
 
 def setup_device(local_rank):
     r"""Setup computation device.
diff --git a/tests/unit-tests/test_gsf.py b/tests/unit-tests/test_gsf.py
index 338f53128d..6be5958788 100644
--- a/tests/unit-tests/test_gsf.py
+++ b/tests/unit-tests/test_gsf.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 from graphstorm.gsf import (create_builtin_node_decoder,
                             create_builtin_edge_decoder,
                             create_builtin_lp_decoder)
+from graphstorm.utils import check_graph_name
 from graphstorm.config import (BUILTIN_TASK_NODE_CLASSIFICATION,
                                BUILTIN_TASK_NODE_REGRESSION,
                                BUILTIN_TASK_EDGE_CLASSIFICATION,
@@ -449,7 +450,41 @@ def test_create_builtin_lp_decoder():
     assert decoder.gamma == 6.
 
 
+def test_check_graph_name():
+    graph_name = "a"
+    check_graph_name(graph_name)
+    graph_name = "graph_name"
+    check_graph_name(graph_name)
+    graph_name = "graph-name"
+    check_graph_name(graph_name)
+
+    # test with invalid graph name
+    graph_name = "/graph_name"
+    invalid_name = False
+    try:
+        check_graph_name(graph_name)
+    except:
+        invalid_name = True
+    assert invalid_name
+
+    graph_name = "|graph_name"
+    invalid_name = False
+    try:
+        check_graph_name(graph_name)
+    except:
+        invalid_name = True
+    assert invalid_name
+
+    graph_name = "\graph_name"
+    invalid_name = False
+    try:
+        check_graph_name(graph_name)
+    except:
+        invalid_name = True
+    assert invalid_name
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
+    test_check_graph_name()
     test_create_builtin_node_decoder()
     test_create_builtin_edge_decoder()
     test_create_builtin_lp_decoder()
\ No newline at end of file