diff --git a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/PhpClientCodegen.java b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/PhpClientCodegen.java
index 3a43e91c777a..538a5c494a61 100644
--- a/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/PhpClientCodegen.java
+++ b/modules/swagger-codegen/src/main/java/io/swagger/codegen/languages/PhpClientCodegen.java
@@ -330,7 +330,8 @@ public class PhpClientCodegen extends DefaultCodegen implements CodegenConfig {
 
     @Override
     public String toModelName(String name) {
-        name = sanitizeName(name);
+        // Note: backslash ("\\") is allowed for e.g. "\\DateTime"
+        name = name.replaceAll("[^\\w\\\\]+", "_");
 
         // model name cannot use reserved keyword
         if (reservedWords.contains(name)) {