diff --git a/docs/management/managing-tags.asciidoc b/docs/management/managing-tags.asciidoc
index 3da98b2281fd..88fdef66a741 100644
--- a/docs/management/managing-tags.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/management/managing-tags.asciidoc
@@ -37,8 +37,7 @@ Create a tag to assign to your saved objects.
 image::images/tags/create-tag.png[Tag creation popin]
 . Enter a name and select a color for the new tag.
 +
-The name can include alphanumeric characters (English letters and digits), `:`, `-`, `_` and the space character,
-and cannot be longer than 50 characters.
+The name cannot be longer than 50 characters.
 . Click *Create tag*.
 
 [float]
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.test.ts b/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.test.ts
index 232387e964cb..a601a96a49e7 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.test.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.test.ts
@@ -20,10 +20,8 @@ describe('Tag attributes validation', () => {
       );
     });
 
-    it('returns an error message if the name contains invalid characters', () => {
-      expect(validateTagName('t^ag+name&')).toMatchInlineSnapshot(
-        `"Tag name can only include a-z, 0-9, _, -,:."`
-      );
+    it('does not return an error message if the name contains special characters', () => {
+      expect(validateTagName('t^ag+name&')).toBeUndefined();
     });
   });
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.ts b/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.ts
index 12149d7bdbe7..5cb9e068516f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/saved_objects_tagging/common/validation.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ export const tagNameMaxLength = 50;
 export const tagDescriptionMaxLength = 100;
 
 const hexColorRegexp = /^#[0-9A-F]{6}$/i;
-const nameValidCharsRegexp = /^[0-9A-Z:\-_\s]+$/i;
 
 export interface TagValidation {
   valid: boolean;
@@ -49,11 +48,6 @@ export const validateTagName = (name: string): string | undefined => {
       },
     });
   }
-  if (!nameValidCharsRegexp.test(name)) {
-    return i18n.translate('xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorInvalidCharacters', {
-      defaultMessage: 'Tag name can only include a-z, 0-9, _, -,:.',
-    });
-  }
 };
 
 export const validateTagDescription = (description: string): string | undefined => {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/ja-JP.json b/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/ja-JP.json
index 3a579adcf88c..ef2149c4931f 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/ja-JP.json
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/ja-JP.json
@@ -16633,7 +16633,6 @@
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.uiApi.table.columnTagsName": "タグ",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.color.errorInvalid": "タグ色は有効な 16 進数値色でなければなりません",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.description.errorTooLong": "タグ説明は {length} 文字以下で入力してください",
-    "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorInvalidCharacters": "タグ名には、a-z、0-9、-、: のみを使用できます。",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorTooLong": "タグ名は {length} 文字以下で入力してください",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorTooShort": "タグ名は {length} 文字以上で入力してください",
     "xpack.searchProfiler.advanceTimeDescription": "イテレーターを次のドキュメントに進めるためにかかった時間。",
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/zh-CN.json b/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/zh-CN.json
index 9099fa0267ba..08d064ce8a05 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/zh-CN.json
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/translations/translations/zh-CN.json
@@ -16675,7 +16675,6 @@
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.uiApi.table.columnTagsName": "标签",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.color.errorInvalid": "标签颜色必须为有效的十六进制颜色",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.description.errorTooLong": "标签描述不能超过 {length} 个字符。",
-    "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorInvalidCharacters": "标签名称只能包含 a-z、0-9、_、-、:。",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorTooLong": "标签名称不能超过 {length} 个字符",
     "xpack.savedObjectsTagging.validation.name.errorTooShort": "标签名称必须至少有 {length} 个字符",
     "xpack.searchProfiler.advanceTimeDescription": "将迭代器推进至下一文档所用时间。",
diff --git a/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/es_archives/global_search/search_syntax/data.json b/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/es_archives/global_search/search_syntax/data.json
index 69220756639d..8379290f5d9b 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/es_archives/global_search/search_syntax/data.json
+++ b/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/es_archives/global_search/search_syntax/data.json
@@ -88,6 +88,24 @@
   }
 }
 
+{
+  "type": "doc",
+  "value": {
+    "id": "tag:tag-special-chars",
+    "index": ".kibana",
+    "source": {
+      "tag": {
+        "name": "my%tag",
+        "description": "Special chars",
+        "color": "#AA0077"
+      },
+      "type": "tag",
+      "updated_at": "2017-09-21T18:49:16.270Z"
+    },
+    "type": "doc"
+  }
+}
+
 {
   "type": "doc",
   "value": {
@@ -356,3 +374,41 @@
     }
   }
 }
+
+{
+  "type": "doc",
+  "value": {
+    "id": "dashboard:ref-to-tag-special-chars",
+    "index": ".kibana",
+    "source": {
+      "dashboard": {
+        "title": "dashboard 4 (tag-special-chars)",
+        "description": "",
+        "hits": 0,
+        "kibanaSavedObjectMeta": {
+          "searchSourceJSON": "{\"query\":{\"query\":\"\",\"language\":\"lucene\"},\"filter\":[{\"meta\":{\"negate\":false,\"disabled\":false,\"alias\":null,\"type\":\"phrase\",\"key\":\"animal\",\"value\":\"dog\",\"params\":{\"query\":\"dog\",\"type\":\"phrase\"},\"indexRefName\":\"kibanaSavedObjectMeta.searchSourceJSON.filter[0].meta.index\"},\"query\":{\"match\":{\"animal\":{\"query\":\"dog\",\"type\":\"phrase\"}}},\"$state\":{\"store\":\"appState\"}}],\"highlightAll\":true,\"version\":true}"
+        },
+        "optionsJSON": "{\"darkTheme\":false,\"useMargins\":true,\"hidePanelTitles\":false}",
+        "panelsJSON": "[]",
+        "timeFrom": "Mon Apr 09 2018 17:56:08 GMT-0400",
+        "timeRestore": true,
+        "timeTo": "Wed Apr 11 2018 17:56:08 GMT-0400",
+        "version": 1
+      },
+      "migrationVersion": {
+        "dashboard": "7.3.0"
+      },
+      "references": [
+        {
+          "id": "tag-special-chars",
+          "name": "tag-special-ref",
+          "type": "tag"
+        }
+      ],
+      "type": "dashboard",
+      "updated_at": "2018-04-11T21:57:52.253Z"
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+
diff --git a/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/test_suites/global_search/global_search_bar.ts b/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/test_suites/global_search/global_search_bar.ts
index f0c70ee8f718..6f84440fc27e 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/test_suites/global_search/global_search_bar.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/plugin_functional/test_suites/global_search/global_search_bar.ts
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import expect from '@kbn/expect';
 import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../ftr_provider_context';
 
 export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
-  describe('GlobalSearchBar', function () {
+  describe('TOTO GlobalSearchBar', function () {
     const { common, navigationalSearch } = getPageObjects(['common', 'navigationalSearch']);
     const esArchiver = getService('esArchiver');
     const browser = getService('browser');
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
           'dashboard 1 (tag-2)',
           'dashboard 2 (tag-3)',
           'dashboard 3 (tag-1 and tag-3)',
+          'dashboard 4 (tag-special-chars)',
         ]);
       });
       it('shows a suggestion when searching for a term matching a tag name', async () => {
@@ -94,6 +95,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
           'dashboard 1 (tag-2)',
           'dashboard 2 (tag-3)',
           'dashboard 3 (tag-1 and tag-3)',
+          'dashboard 4 (tag-special-chars)',
         ]);
       });
 
@@ -111,6 +113,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
           'dashboard 1 (tag-2)',
           'dashboard 2 (tag-3)',
           'dashboard 3 (tag-1 and tag-3)',
+          'dashboard 4 (tag-special-chars)',
         ]);
       });
 
@@ -181,6 +184,14 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
         expect(results.map((result) => result.label)).to.eql(['My awesome vis (tag-4)']);
       });
 
+      it('allows to filter by tags containing special characters', async () => {
+        await navigationalSearch.searchFor('tag:"my%tag"');
+
+        const results = await navigationalSearch.getDisplayedResults();
+
+        expect(results.map((result) => result.label)).to.eql(['dashboard 4 (tag-special-chars)']);
+      });
+
       it('returns no results when searching for an unknown tag', async () => {
         await navigationalSearch.searchFor('tag:unknown');
 
diff --git a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/create.ts b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/create.ts
index bd7fa7538703..30008e635b62 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/create.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/create.ts
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       await supertest
         .post(`/api/saved_objects_tagging/tags/create`)
         .send({
-          name: 'Inv%li& t@g n*me',
+          name: 'a',
           description: 'some desc',
           color: 'this is not a valid color',
         })
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
               valid: false,
               warnings: [],
               errors: {
-                name: 'Tag name can only include a-z, 0-9, _, -,:.',
+                name: 'Tag name must be at least 2 characters',
                 color: 'Tag color must be a valid hex color',
               },
             },
diff --git a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/update.ts b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/update.ts
index 7b4298607c66..ddf39ccf90b3 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/update.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/api_integration/tagging_api/apis/update.ts
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       await supertest
         .post(`/api/saved_objects_tagging/tags/tag-1`)
         .send({
-          name: 'Inv%li& t@g n*me',
+          name: 'a',
           description: 'some desc',
           color: 'this is not a valid color',
         })
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
               valid: false,
               warnings: [],
               errors: {
-                name: 'Tag name can only include a-z, 0-9, _, -,:.',
+                name: 'Tag name must be at least 2 characters',
                 color: 'Tag color must be a valid hex color',
               },
             },
diff --git a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/create.ts b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/create.ts
index b62e9a70b43e..2f2db856c065 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/create.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/create.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       await tagModal.openCreate();
       await tagModal.fillForm(
         {
-          name: 'invalid&$%name',
+          name: 'a',
           description: 'The name will fails validation',
           color: '#FF00CC',
         },
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       await tagModal.openCreate();
       await tagModal.fillForm(
         {
-          name: 'invalid&$%name',
+          name: 'a',
           description: 'The name will fails validation',
           color: '#FF00CC',
         },
diff --git a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/edit.ts b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/edit.ts
index 1883d3f23dc9..1de101433179 100644
--- a/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/edit.ts
+++ b/x-pack/test/saved_object_tagging/functional/tests/edit.ts
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       await tagModal.openEdit('tag-2');
       await tagModal.fillForm(
         {
-          name: 'invalid&$%name',
+          name: 'a',
         },
         { submit: true }
       );
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ export default function ({ getPageObjects, getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
       await tagModal.openEdit('tag-2');
       await tagModal.fillForm(
         {
-          name: 'invalid&$%name',
+          name: 'a',
           description: 'edited description',
           color: '#FF00CC',
         },