diff --git a/src/basic/env-util.c b/src/basic/env-util.c
index 03a2ad83f1..802dff2485 100644
--- a/src/basic/env-util.c
+++ b/src/basic/env-util.c
@@ -21,21 +21,18 @@
         DIGITS LETTERS                          \
         "_"
 
-static bool printable_portable_character(char c) {
-        /* POSIX.1-2008 specifies almost all ASCII characters as "portable". (Only DEL is excluded, and
-         * additionally NUL and = are not allowed in variable names). We are stricter, and additionally
-         * reject BEL, BS, HT, CR, LF, VT, FF and SPACE, i.e. all whitespace. */
-
-        return c >= '!' && c <= '~';
-}
-
 static bool env_name_is_valid_n(const char *e, size_t n) {
+        const char *p;
+
         if (!e)
                 return false;
 
         if (n <= 0)
                 return false;
 
+        if (e[0] >= '0' && e[0] <= '9')
+                return false;
+
         /* POSIX says the overall size of the environment block cannot
          * be > ARG_MAX, an individual assignment hence cannot be
          * either. Discounting the equal sign and trailing NUL this
@@ -44,8 +41,8 @@ static bool env_name_is_valid_n(const char *e, size_t n) {
         if (n > (size_t) sysconf(_SC_ARG_MAX) - 2)
                 return false;
 
-        for (const char *p = e; p < e + n; p++)
-                if (!printable_portable_character(*p) || *p == '=')
+        for (p = e; p < e + n; p++)
+                if (!strchr(VALID_BASH_ENV_NAME_CHARS, *p))
                         return false;
 
         return true;
diff --git a/src/test/test-env-util.c b/src/test/test-env-util.c
index 4fede158cd..7c418209a9 100644
--- a/src/test/test-env-util.c
+++ b/src/test/test-env-util.c
@@ -274,12 +274,10 @@ static void test_env_clean(void) {
         assert_se(streq(e[0], "FOOBAR=WALDO"));
         assert_se(streq(e[1], "X="));
         assert_se(streq(e[2], "F=F"));
-        assert_se(streq(e[3], "0000=000"));
-        assert_se(streq(e[4], "abcd=äöüß"));
-        assert_se(streq(e[5], "xyz=xyz\n"));
-        assert_se(streq(e[6], "another=final one"));
-        assert_se(streq(e[7], "BASH_FUNC_foo%%=() {  echo foo\n}"));
-        assert_se(e[8] == NULL);
+        assert_se(streq(e[3], "abcd=äöüß"));
+        assert_se(streq(e[4], "xyz=xyz\n"));
+        assert_se(streq(e[5], "another=final one"));
+        assert_se(e[6] == NULL);
 }
 
 static void test_env_name_is_valid(void) {
@@ -292,11 +290,8 @@ static void test_env_name_is_valid(void) {
         assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("xxx\a"));
         assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("xxx\007b"));
         assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("\007\009"));
-        assert_se( env_name_is_valid("5_starting_with_a_number_is_unexpected_but_valid"));
+        assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("5_starting_with_a_number_is_wrong"));
         assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("#¤%&?_only_numbers_letters_and_underscore_allowed"));
-        assert_se( env_name_is_valid("BASH_FUNC_foo%%"));
-        assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("with spaces%%"));
-        assert_se(!env_name_is_valid("with\nnewline%%"));
 }
 
 static void test_env_value_is_valid(void) {
@@ -325,13 +320,9 @@ static void test_env_assignment_is_valid(void) {
         assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("a b="));
         assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("a ="));
         assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid(" b="));
-        /* Names with dots and dashes makes those variables inaccessible as bash variables (as the syntax
-         * simply does not allow such variable names, see http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/gotchas.html). They
-         * are still valid variables according to POSIX though. */
-        assert_se( env_assignment_is_valid("a.b="));
-        assert_se( env_assignment_is_valid("a-b="));
-        /* Those are not ASCII, so not valid according to POSIX (though zsh does allow unicode variable
-         * names…). */
+        /* no dots or dashes: http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/gotchas.html */
+        assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("a.b="));
+        assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("a-b="));
         assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("\007=głąb kapuściany"));
         assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("c\009=\007\009\011"));
         assert_se(!env_assignment_is_valid("głąb=printf \"\x1b]0;<mock-chroot>\x07<mock-chroot>\""));
diff --git a/src/test/test-load-fragment.c b/src/test/test-load-fragment.c
index bf74cbe6e1..96be244b6b 100644
--- a/src/test/test-load-fragment.c
+++ b/src/test/test-load-fragment.c
@@ -765,9 +765,8 @@ static void test_config_parse_pass_environ(void) {
                                       "PassEnvironment", 0, "'invalid name' 'normal_name' A=1 'special_name$$' \\",
                                       &passenv, NULL);
         assert_se(r >= 0);
-        assert_se(strv_length(passenv) == 2);
+        assert_se(strv_length(passenv) == 1);
         assert_se(streq(passenv[0], "normal_name"));
-        assert_se(streq(passenv[1], "special_name$$"));
 }
 
 static void test_unit_dump_config_items(void) {