diff --git a/packages/api/src/directives.ts b/packages/api/src/directives.ts
index b4a32bf5e..435166539 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/directives.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/directives.ts
@@ -5,16 +5,18 @@ import { SanitizedString } from './scalars'
 export const sanitizeDirectiveTransformer = (schema: GraphQLSchema) => {
   return mapSchema(schema, {
     [MapperKind.FIELD]: (fieldConfig) => {
-      const sanitizeDirective = getDirective(schema, fieldConfig, 'sanitize')
-      if (!sanitizeDirective || sanitizeDirective.length < 1) {
+      const sanitizeDirective = getDirective(
+        schema,
+        fieldConfig,
+        'sanitize'
+      )?.[0]
+      if (!sanitizeDirective) {
         return fieldConfig
       }
 
-      const maxLength = sanitizeDirective[0].maxLength as number | undefined
-      const allowedTags = sanitizeDirective[0].allowedTags as
-        | string[]
-        | undefined
-      const pattern = sanitizeDirective[0].pattern as RegExp | undefined
+      const maxLength = sanitizeDirective.maxLength as number | undefined
+      const allowedTags = sanitizeDirective.allowedTags as string[] | undefined
+      const pattern = sanitizeDirective.pattern as string | undefined
 
       if (
         fieldConfig.type instanceof GraphQLNonNull &&
diff --git a/packages/api/src/scalars.ts b/packages/api/src/scalars.ts
index 2f0de333a..22404534f 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/scalars.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/scalars.ts
@@ -9,10 +9,14 @@ export class SanitizedString extends GraphQLScalarType {
     type: GraphQLScalarType,
     allowedTags?: string[],
     maxLength?: number,
-    pattern?: RegExp
+    pattern?: string
   ) {
     super({
-      name: `SanitizedString_${allowedTags}_${maxLength}_${pattern}`,
+      // Names must match /^[_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]*$/ as per graphql-js
+      name: `SanitizedString_${allowedTags}_${maxLength}_${pattern}`.replace(
+        /\W/g,
+        ''
+      ),
       description: 'Source string that was sanitized',
 
       serialize(value: string) {
@@ -26,7 +30,7 @@ export class SanitizedString extends GraphQLScalarType {
             `Specified value cannot be longer than ${maxLength} characters`
           )
         }
-        if (pattern && !pattern.test(value)) {
+        if (pattern && !new RegExp(pattern).test(value)) {
           throw new Error(`Specified value does not match pattern`)
         }
         return sanitize(value, { allowedTags: allowedTags || [] })
@@ -40,7 +44,7 @@ export class SanitizedString extends GraphQLScalarType {
             `Specified value cannot be longer than ${maxLength} characters`
           )
         }
-        if (pattern && !pattern.test(value)) {
+        if (pattern && !new RegExp(pattern).test(value)) {
           throw new Error(`Specified value does not match pattern`)
         }
         return sanitize(value, { allowedTags: allowedTags || [] })