diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 31574dc..e61224a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ The file configuration accepts an array of objects, with keys:
 - `folder`: Subfolder where the files are located
 - `file_type`: Type (format) of file to load, either `csv` or `excel`.
 - `delimiter`: Field delimiter for CSV files. default `,`
+- `clean_colnames`: Whether to convert column names to snake_case. default `false`
 
 Example config:
 
@@ -53,6 +54,7 @@ Example config:
       file_pattern: employees_.*\.csv
       folder: hr_data/raw
       file_type: csv
+      clean_colnames: true
   ...
 ```
 
diff --git a/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/csv_handler.py b/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/csv_handler.py
index 894c8a3..44d3ef8 100644
--- a/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/csv_handler.py
+++ b/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/csv_handler.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 import logging
 import re
 
+from tap_sharepointsites.utils import snakecase
+
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -14,13 +16,7 @@ def __init__(self, textcontent, delimiter=","):
         """Initialize ExcelHandler."""
         self.textcontent = textcontent
         self.delimiter = delimiter
-
-    @staticmethod
-    def format_key(key):
-        """Format key."""
-        formatted_key = re.sub(r"[^\w\s]", "", key)
-        formatted_key = re.sub(r"\s+", "_", formatted_key)
-        return formatted_key.lower()
+        self.clean_colnames = clean_colnames
 
     def get_dictreader(self):
         """Read CSV file and return csv DictReader object for the file."""
@@ -31,6 +27,4 @@ def get_dictreader(self):
             delimiter=self.delimiter,
         )
 
-        dr.fieldnames = [self.format_key(key) for key in dr.fieldnames.copy()]
-
         return dr
diff --git a/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/excel_handler.py b/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/excel_handler.py
index c3c5113..79b4e30 100644
--- a/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/excel_handler.py
+++ b/tap_sharepointsites/file_handlers/excel_handler.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 import openpyxl
 
+from tap_sharepointsites.utils import snakecase
+
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
@@ -36,8 +38,7 @@ def fieldnames(self):
         """Return fieldnames."""
         return [c.value for c in self.xlsheet[1]]
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def generator_wrapper(reader):
+    def generator_wrapper(self, reader):
         """Wrap a reader in a generator."""
         header_row = None
         for row in reader:
@@ -50,16 +51,11 @@ def generator_wrapper(reader):
                 header_cell = header_row[index]
 
                 formatted_key = header_cell.value
+
                 if not formatted_key:
                     formatted_key = ""  # default to empty string for key
 
-                # remove non-word, non-whitespace characters
-                formatted_key = re.sub(r"[^\w\s]", "", formatted_key)
-
-                # replace whitespace with underscores
-                formatted_key = re.sub(r"\s+", "_", formatted_key)
-
-                to_return[formatted_key.lower()] = (
+                to_return[formatted_key] = (
                     str(cell.value) if cell.value is not None else ""
                 )
 
diff --git a/tap_sharepointsites/file_stream.py b/tap_sharepointsites/file_stream.py
index 7a834d9..e8f1e78 100644
--- a/tap_sharepointsites/file_stream.py
+++ b/tap_sharepointsites/file_stream.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from tap_sharepointsites.client import sharepointsitesStream
 from tap_sharepointsites.file_handlers.csv_handler import CSVHandler
 from tap_sharepointsites.file_handlers.excel_handler import ExcelHandler
+from tap_sharepointsites.utils import snakecase
 
 
 class FilesStream(sharepointsitesStream):
@@ -126,6 +127,10 @@ def parse_response(self, response: requests.Response, context) -> t.Iterable[dic
                     raise Exception(f"File type { filetype_name } not supported (yet)")
 
                 for i, row in enumerate(dr):
+
+                    if self.file_config.get("clean_colnames", False):
+                        row = {snakecase(k): v for k, v in row.items()}
+
                     row.update(
                         {
                             "_sdc_source_file": record["name"],
@@ -156,15 +161,11 @@ def schema(self):
                     dr = ExcelHandler(file)
 
                 properties = {}
-                formatted_key = [
-                    re.sub(r"[^\w\s]", "", formatted_key)
-                    for formatted_key in dr.fieldnames
-                ]
-                formatted_key = [
-                    re.sub(r"\s+", "_", formatted_key)
-                    for formatted_key in formatted_key
-                ]
-                fieldnames = [formatted_key.lower() for formatted_key in formatted_key]
+
+                fieldnames = [name for name in dr.fieldnames]
+
+                if self.file_config.get("clean_colnames", False):
+                    fieldnames = [snakecase(name) for name in fieldnames]
 
                 extra_cols = [
                     "_sdc_source_file",
diff --git a/tap_sharepointsites/tap.py b/tap_sharepointsites/tap.py
index adedbd7..73b9f54 100644
--- a/tap_sharepointsites/tap.py
+++ b/tap_sharepointsites/tap.py
@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ class Tapsharepointsites(Tap):
                         required=False,
                         description="For CSV files: the delimiter to use",
                     ),
+                    th.Property(
+                        "clean_colnames",
+                        th.BooleanType,
+                        required=False,
+                        default=False,
+                        description="Replace special characters and convert to snakecase",
+                    ),
                 ),
             ),
             required=False,
diff --git a/tap_sharepointsites/utils.py b/tap_sharepointsites/utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d4f412e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tap_sharepointsites/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import re
+
+
+def snakecase(name):
+    # Convert camelCase to snake_case
+    name = re.sub("(.)([A-Z][a-z]+)", r"\1_\2", name)
+    name = re.sub("([a-z0-9])([A-Z])", r"\1_\2", name)
+
+    # Replace any non-alphanumeric characters with underscores
+    name = re.sub(r"[^a-zA-Z0-9_]+", "_", name)
+
+    # Replace any sequence of multiple underscores with a single underscore
+    name = re.sub(r"_{2,}", "_", name)
+
+    return name.lower()