diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8ac796f5..1104c993 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "pallas-crypto",
  "pallas-primitives",
  "pallas-traverse",
+ "regex",
+ "thiserror",
  "uplc",
 ]
 
@@ -233,9 +235,9 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "clap"
-version = "3.2.22"
+version = "3.2.23"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "86447ad904c7fb335a790c9d7fe3d0d971dc523b8ccd1561a520de9a85302750"
+checksum = "71655c45cb9845d3270c9d6df84ebe72b4dad3c2ba3f7023ad47c144e4e473a5"
 dependencies = [
  "atty",
  "bitflags",
@@ -245,7 +247,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "once_cell",
  "strsim",
  "termcolor",
- "textwrap",
+ "textwrap 0.16.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -591,7 +593,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "supports-hyperlinks",
  "supports-unicode",
  "terminal_size",
- "textwrap",
+ "textwrap 0.15.0",
  "thiserror",
  "unicode-width",
 ]
@@ -1214,15 +1216,21 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "textwrap"
-version = "0.15.1"
+version = "0.15.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "949517c0cf1bf4ee812e2e07e08ab448e3ae0d23472aee8a06c985f0c8815b16"
+checksum = "b1141d4d61095b28419e22cb0bbf02755f5e54e0526f97f1e3d1d160e60885fb"
 dependencies = [
  "smawk",
  "unicode-linebreak",
  "unicode-width",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "textwrap"
+version = "0.16.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "222a222a5bfe1bba4a77b45ec488a741b3cb8872e5e499451fd7d0129c9c7c3d"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "thiserror"
 version = "1.0.37"
diff --git a/crates/cli/Cargo.toml b/crates/cli/Cargo.toml
index 1c6a77f4..708c2c00 100644
--- a/crates/cli/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/cli/Cargo.toml
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ pallas-codec = "0.14.0"
 pallas-crypto = "0.14.0"
 pallas-primitives = "0.14.0"
 pallas-traverse = "0.14.0"
+regex = "1.5.4"
+thiserror = "1.0.31"
 
 aiken-lang = { path = "../lang", version = "0.0.24" }
 aiken-lsp = { path = "../lsp", version = "0.0.0" }
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/cmd/error.rs b/crates/cli/src/cmd/error.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..29cce983
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/cli/src/cmd/error.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+use std::fmt;
+
+use thiserror::Error;
+
+#[derive(Debug, Error)]
+pub enum Error {
+    #[error("{} is not a valid project name. {}", name, reason.to_string())]
+    InvalidProjectName {
+        name: String,
+        reason: InvalidProjectNameReason,
+    },
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
+pub enum InvalidProjectNameReason {
+    AikenPrefix,
+    AikenReservedModule,
+    Format,
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for InvalidProjectNameReason {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        match self {
+            InvalidProjectNameReason::AikenPrefix => write!(f, "It is a reserved word in Aiken."),
+            InvalidProjectNameReason::AikenReservedModule => {
+                write!(f, "It is a reserved module name in Aiken.")
+            }
+            InvalidProjectNameReason::Format => write!(
+                f,
+                "It does not have the correct format. Project names \
+                must start with a lowercase letter and may only contain lowercase letters, \
+                numbers and underscores."
+            ),
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/cmd/mod.rs b/crates/cli/src/cmd/mod.rs
index 3c79d162..75b5fe74 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/cmd/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/cmd/mod.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 pub mod build;
 pub mod check;
+pub mod error;
 pub mod fmt;
 pub mod lsp;
 pub mod new;
diff --git a/crates/cli/src/cmd/new.rs b/crates/cli/src/cmd/new.rs
index 4e98690d..23172c47 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/cmd/new.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/cmd/new.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ use std::fs;
 use std::io::Write;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
+use super::error::{Error, InvalidProjectNameReason};
+
 #[derive(clap::Args)]
 /// Create a new Aiken project
 pub struct Args {
@@ -20,11 +22,11 @@ pub struct Creator {
 }
 
 impl Creator {
-    fn new(args: Args) -> Self {
+    fn new(args: Args, project_name: String) -> Self {
         let root = args.name;
         let src = root.join("src");
         let scripts = src.join("scripts");
-        let project_name = root.clone().into_os_string().into_string().unwrap();
+        let project_name = project_name;
         let project = src.join(&project_name);
         Self {
             root,
@@ -111,9 +113,37 @@ fn write(path: PathBuf, contents: &str) -> miette::Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn validate_name(name: &str) -> Result<(), Error> {
+    if name.starts_with("aiken_") {
+        Err(Error::InvalidProjectName {
+            name: name.to_string(),
+            reason: InvalidProjectNameReason::AikenPrefix,
+        })
+    } else if name == "aiken" {
+        Err(Error::InvalidProjectName {
+            name: name.to_string(),
+            reason: InvalidProjectNameReason::AikenReservedModule,
+        })
+    } else if !regex::Regex::new("^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$")
+        .expect("new name regex could not be compiled")
+        .is_match(name)
+    {
+        Err(Error::InvalidProjectName {
+            name: name.to_string(),
+            reason: InvalidProjectNameReason::Format,
+        })
+    } else {
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
 pub fn exec(args: Args) -> miette::Result<()> {
     if !args.name.exists() {
-        let creator = Creator::new(args);
+        let project_name = args.name.clone().into_os_string().into_string().unwrap();
+
+        validate_name(&project_name).into_diagnostic()?;
+
+        let creator = Creator::new(args, project_name);
         creator.run()?;
     }