diff --git a/docs/reference/aggregations.asciidoc b/docs/reference/aggregations.asciidoc
index 472b87b72fe67..88c3ec31146e2 100644
--- a/docs/reference/aggregations.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/aggregations.asciidoc
@@ -67,7 +67,13 @@ The following snippet captures the basic structure of aggregations:
 The `aggregations` object (the key `aggs` can also be used) in the JSON holds the aggregations to be computed. Each aggregation
 is associated with a logical name that the user defines (e.g. if the aggregation computes the average price, then it would
 make sense to name it `avg_price`). These logical names will also be used to uniquely identify the aggregations in the
-response. Each aggregation has a specific type (`<aggregation_type>` in the above snippet) and is typically the first
+response.
+
+Aggregation names can be any alphanumeric character except a left bracket (`[`), right bracket (`]`) or greater-than sign (`>`).
+
+deprecated[6.4.0, Periods in aggregations names have been deprecated, and will be removed in `8.0.0`.]
+
+Each aggregation has a specific type (`<aggregation_type>` in the above snippet) and is typically the first
 key within the named aggregation body. Each type of aggregation defines its own body, depending on the nature of the
 aggregation (e.g. an `avg` aggregation on a specific field will define the field on which the average will be calculated).
 At the same level of the aggregation type definition, one can optionally define a set of additional aggregations,
diff --git a/docs/reference/migration/migrate_7_0/aggregations.asciidoc b/docs/reference/migration/migrate_7_0/aggregations.asciidoc
index b4f29935be9ab..2e4765af8ab42 100644
--- a/docs/reference/migration/migrate_7_0/aggregations.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/migration/migrate_7_0/aggregations.asciidoc
@@ -23,3 +23,8 @@ Aggregation is now a variable called `state` available in the script context, ra
 being provided via the `params` object as `params._agg`.
 
 The old `params._agg` variable is still available as well.
+
+==== Dots in aggregation names have been deprecated
+
+Starting in 6.4.0, dots in aggregation names have been deprecated.  Aggregation names that use
+dots will start to throw exceptions in 8.0.0.
diff --git a/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.aggregation/00_generic.yml b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.aggregation/00_generic.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1dfa37acf22e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rest-api-spec/src/main/resources/rest-api-spec/test/search.aggregation/00_generic.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+setup:
+  - do:
+      indices.create:
+          index: test_1
+          body:
+            settings:
+              number_of_replicas: 0
+            mappings:
+              doc:
+                properties:
+                  int_field:
+                     type : integer
+                  double_field:
+                     type : double
+                  string_field:
+                     type: keyword
+
+  - do:
+       bulk:
+         refresh: true
+         body:
+           - index:
+               _index: test_1
+               _type:  doc
+               _id:    1
+           - int_field: 1
+             double_field: 1.0
+             string_field: foo
+           - index:
+               _index: test_1
+               _type:  doc
+               _id:    2
+           - int_field: 51
+             double_field: 51.0
+             string_field: foo
+           - index:
+               _index: test_1
+               _type:  doc
+               _id:    3
+           - int_field: 101
+             double_field: 101.0
+             string_field: foo
+           - index:
+               _index: test_1
+               _type:  doc
+               _id:    4
+           - int_field: 151
+             double_field: 151.0
+             string_field: foo
+
+---
+"Dots in agg names":
+
+  - skip:
+      version: " - 6.3.99"
+      reason: this feature was deprecated in 6.4.0
+      features: "warnings"
+  - do:
+      warnings:
+        - "Dots in aggregation names are deprecated and will be removed in 8.0"
+      search:
+        body:
+          aggs:
+            dots.in.agg.name:
+              avg:
+                field: int_field
+
+  - match: { hits.total: 4 }
+  - length: { hits.hits: 4 }
+  - match:
+      aggregations:
+        dots.in.agg.name:
+          value: 76.0
+
+
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/AggregatorFactories.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/AggregatorFactories.java
index de4f0aab67696..e84de1a186301 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/AggregatorFactories.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/AggregatorFactories.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamInput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.StreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.Writeable;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.DeprecationLogger;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLoggerFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContentObject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentParser;
@@ -50,6 +52,7 @@
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 public class AggregatorFactories {
+    private static final DeprecationLogger deprecationLogger = new DeprecationLogger(ESLoggerFactory.getLogger("deprecation"));
     public static final Pattern VALID_AGG_NAME = Pattern.compile("[^\\[\\]>]+");
 
     /**
@@ -75,6 +78,9 @@ private static AggregatorFactories.Builder parseAggregators(XContentParser parse
                 throw new ParsingException(parser.getTokenLocation(), "Invalid aggregation name [" + aggregationName
                         + "]. Aggregation names must be alpha-numeric and can only contain '_' and '-'");
             }
+            if (aggregationName.contains(".")) {
+                deprecationLogger.deprecated("Dots in aggregation names are deprecated and will be removed in 8.0");
+            }
 
             token = parser.nextToken();
             if (token != XContentParser.Token.START_OBJECT) {