diff --git a/packages/nc-gui/components/dlg/QuickImport.vue b/packages/nc-gui/components/dlg/QuickImport.vue
index 6d98a74341..d49f72f209 100644
--- a/packages/nc-gui/components/dlg/QuickImport.vue
+++ b/packages/nc-gui/components/dlg/QuickImport.vue
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ const onChange = () => {
 
             <a-form-item v-if="!importDataOnly" class="!my-2">
               <a-checkbox v-model:checked="importState.parserConfig.autoSelectFieldTypes">
-                <span class="caption">Auto-Select Field Types</span>
+                <span class="caption">{{ $t('labels.autoSelectFieldTypes') }}</span>
               </a-checkbox>
             </a-form-item>
 
diff --git a/packages/nc-gui/components/template/Editor.vue b/packages/nc-gui/components/template/Editor.vue
index 1c59e4218e..f621f79b37 100644
--- a/packages/nc-gui/components/template/Editor.vue
+++ b/packages/nc-gui/components/template/Editor.vue
@@ -535,6 +535,15 @@ async function importTemplate() {
           title: '',
           columns: table.columns || [],
         })
+
+        if (process.env.NC_SANITIZE_COLUMN_NAME !== 'false') {
+          // column_name could have been updated in tableCreate
+          // e.g. sanitize column name to something like field_1, field_2, and etc
+          createdTable.columns.forEach((column, i) => {
+            table.columns[i].column_name = column.column_name
+          })
+        }
+
         table.id = createdTable.id
         table.title = createdTable.title
 
diff --git a/packages/nc-gui/lang/en.json b/packages/nc-gui/lang/en.json
index 837f801730..03dab6da39 100644
--- a/packages/nc-gui/lang/en.json
+++ b/packages/nc-gui/lang/en.json
@@ -591,6 +591,7 @@
     "goToDashboard": "Go to Dashboard",
     "importing": "Importing",
     "formatJson": "Format JSON",
+    "autoSelectFieldTypes": "Auto-Select Field Types",
     "firstRowAsHeaders": "Use First Record as Headers",
     "flattenNested": "Flatten Nested",
     "downloadAllowed": "Download allowed",
diff --git a/packages/noco-docs/docs/020.getting-started/050.self-hosted/020.environment-variables.md b/packages/noco-docs/docs/020.getting-started/050.self-hosted/020.environment-variables.md
index a22ba523a1..01a5779b20 100644
--- a/packages/noco-docs/docs/020.getting-started/050.self-hosted/020.environment-variables.md
+++ b/packages/noco-docs/docs/020.getting-started/050.self-hosted/020.environment-variables.md
@@ -68,4 +68,5 @@ For production use-cases, it is **recommended** to configure
 | NC_AUTOMATION_LOG_LEVEL            | Possible Values: `OFF`, `ERROR`, `ALL`. See [Webhooks](/automation/webhook/create-webhook#call-log) for details.                                                                                                                            | `OFF`                                                                                          |
 | NC_SECURE_ATTACHMENTS              | Allow accessing attachments only through presigned urls. To enable set value as `true` any other value treated as false. (⚠ this will make existing links inaccessible ⚠)                                                                   | `false`                                                                                        |
 | NC_ATTACHMENT_EXPIRE_SECONDS       | How many seconds before expiring presigned attachment urls. (Attachments will expire in at least set seconds and at most 10mins after set time)                                                                                             | 7200 (2 hours)                                                                                 |
-| NC_ALLOW_LOCAL_HOOKS               | To enable set value as `true` any other value treated as false. (⚠ this will allow webhooks to call local links which can raise security issues ⚠)                                                                                          | `false`                                                                                        |
\ No newline at end of file
+| NC_ALLOW_LOCAL_HOOKS               | To enable set value as `true` any other value treated as false. (⚠ this will allow webhooks to call local links which can raise security issues ⚠)                                                                                          | `false`                                                                                        |
+| NC_SANITIZE_COLUMN_NAME               | Sanitize the column name during column creation. To enable set value as `true` any other value treated as false.                                                                                        | `true`                                                                                        |
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/nocodb/src/helpers/columnHelpers.ts b/packages/nocodb/src/helpers/columnHelpers.ts
index 898ffa1f88..6a14089d53 100644
--- a/packages/nocodb/src/helpers/columnHelpers.ts
+++ b/packages/nocodb/src/helpers/columnHelpers.ts
@@ -267,6 +267,7 @@ export async function populateRollupForLTAR({
 }
 
 export const sanitizeColumnName = (name: string) => {
+  if (process.env.NC_SANITIZE_COLUMN_NAME === 'false') return name;
   const columnName = name.replace(/\W/g, '_');
 
   // if column name only contains _ then return as 'field'
diff --git a/packages/nocodb/src/services/tables.service.ts b/packages/nocodb/src/services/tables.service.ts
index 1546f2f460..cf765556be 100644
--- a/packages/nocodb/src/services/tables.service.ts
+++ b/packages/nocodb/src/services/tables.service.ts
@@ -455,9 +455,21 @@ export class TablesService {
 
     const mxColumnLength = Column.getMaxColumnNameLength(sqlClientType);
 
+    const uniqueColumnNameCount = {};
+
     for (const column of param.table.columns) {
       if (!isVirtualCol(column)) {
         column.column_name = sanitizeColumnName(column.column_name);
+
+        if (uniqueColumnNameCount[column.column_name]) {
+          let suffix = 1;
+          let targetColumnName = `${column.column_name}_${suffix++}`;
+          while (uniqueColumnNameCount[targetColumnName]) {
+            targetColumnName = `${column.column_name}_${suffix++}`;
+          }
+          column.column_name = targetColumnName;
+        }
+        uniqueColumnNameCount[column.column_name] = 1;
       }
 
       if (column.column_name.length > mxColumnLength) {