diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java
index 4057d2975c9..d0a169b7873 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/DefaultCodegen.java
@@ -448,18 +448,19 @@ public class DefaultCodegen {
     return m;
   }
 
-    public static String getterAndSetterCapitalize(String name) {
-        if (name == null || name.length() == 0) {
-            return name;
-        }
-        if (name.length() > 1 && Character.isUpperCase(name.charAt(1)) &&
-                Character.isLowerCase(name.charAt(0))){
-            return name;
-        }
-        char chars[] = name.toCharArray();
-        chars[0] = Character.toUpperCase(chars[0]);
-        return new String(chars);
+  public String getterAndSetterCapitalize(String name) {
+    if (name == null || name.length() == 0) {
+      return name;
     }
+    name = toVarName(name);
+    if (name.length() > 1 && Character.isUpperCase(name.charAt(1)) &&
+            Character.isLowerCase(name.charAt(0))){
+      return name;
+    }
+    char chars[] = name.toCharArray();
+    chars[0] = Character.toUpperCase(chars[0]);
+    return new String(chars);
+  }
 
   public CodegenProperty fromProperty(String name, Property p) {
     if(p == null) {
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/languages/JavaClientCodegen.java b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/languages/JavaClientCodegen.java
index 1475db64bf6..b4698ecc714 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/languages/JavaClientCodegen.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/com/wordnik/swagger/codegen/languages/JavaClientCodegen.java
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ public class JavaClientCodegen extends DefaultCodegen implements CodegenConfig {
     return outputFolder + "/" + sourceFolder + "/" + modelPackage().replace('.', File.separatorChar);
   }
 
+  @Override
+  public String toVarName(String name) {
+    if(reservedWords.contains(name))
+      return escapeReservedWord(name);
+    else {
+      return name.replaceAll("-", "_");
+    }
+  }
+
   @Override
   public String getTypeDeclaration(Property p) {
     if(p instanceof ArrayProperty) {
diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/test/scala/Java/JavaModelTest.scala b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/test/scala/Java/JavaModelTest.scala
index 1e39a715eb6..33eb5f75b90 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/test/scala/Java/JavaModelTest.scala
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/test/scala/Java/JavaModelTest.scala
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 
 @RunWith(classOf[JUnitRunner])
 class JavaModelTest extends FlatSpec with Matchers {
-
   it should "convert a simple java model" in {
     val model = new ModelImpl()
       .description("a sample model")
@@ -322,4 +321,18 @@ class JavaModelTest extends FlatSpec with Matchers {
     vars.get(0).required should equal (true)
     vars.get(0).isNotContainer should equal (true)
   }
+
+  it should "convert hyphens per issue 503" in {
+    val model = new ModelImpl()
+      .description("a sample model")
+      .property("created-at", new DateTimeProperty())
+
+    val codegen = new JavaClientCodegen()
+    val cm = codegen.fromModel("sample", model)
+    val vars = cm.vars
+    vars.get(0).baseName should be("created-at")
+    vars.get(0).getter should be ("getCreated_at")
+    vars.get(0).setter should be ("setCreated_at")
+    vars.get(0).name should be ("created_at")
+  }
 }