SharePoint Column Names: Internal name mappings for non alphabet.

Whenever creating any column for list, SharePoint creates two names for it.

External name to display in views, forms
Internal name
Best example to understand internal name is “Created By” field which is having internal name “Author”.

You can change the display name as many times as you want, but can never change the internal name once column is created.


If you are creating field from code behind then you can assign internal name as per your choice, but when doing it thru web SharePoint gives you option to give display name, and creates internal name by itself. When internal name is defined, if you have any of the non alphabet, numeric character as name SharePoint converts them to special hex codes.


For e.g. trying to create field “Emp Name” gives internal name as “Emp_x0020_Name”


Below is a conversion table for future reference.