diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfig.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfig.java
index e3f6b0be735..175f3108e35 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfig.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfig.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
+
 /**
  * Autodetect analysis configuration options describes which fields are
  * analysed and the functions to use.
@@ -557,7 +558,6 @@ public class AnalysisConfig implements ToXContentObject, Writeable {
             }
 
             verifyNoInconsistentNestedFieldNames();
-            verifyInfluencerNames();
 
             return new AnalysisConfig(bucketSpan, categorizationFieldName, categorizationFilters,
                     latency, summaryCountFieldName, detectors, influencers, overlappingBuckets,
@@ -675,17 +675,6 @@ public class AnalysisConfig implements ToXContentObject, Writeable {
             }
         }
 
-        private void verifyInfluencerNames() {
-            for (String influencer : influencers) {
-                if (influencer == null || influencer.isEmpty()) {
-                    throw ExceptionsHelper.badRequestException(
-                            Messages.getMessage(Messages.JOB_CONFIG_INFLUENCER_CANNOT_BE_EMPTY));
-                }
-
-                Detector.Builder.verifyFieldName(influencer);
-            }
-        }
-
         private static void checkDetectorsHavePartitionFields(List<Detector> detectors) {
             for (Detector detector : detectors) {
                 if (!Strings.isNullOrEmpty(detector.getPartitionFieldName())) {
diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/messages/Messages.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/messages/Messages.java
index 140ad637865..2187b6d7962 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/messages/Messages.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/messages/Messages.java
@@ -112,11 +112,10 @@ public final class Messages {
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_FUNCTION_REQUIRES_OVERFIELD = "over_field_name must be set when the ''{0}'' function is used";
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_ID_ALREADY_TAKEN = "The job cannot be created with the Id ''{0}''. The Id is already used.";
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_ID_TOO_LONG = "The job id cannot contain more than {0,number,integer} characters.";
-    public static final String JOB_CONFIG_INFLUENCER_CANNOT_BE_EMPTY = "Influencer names cannot be empty strings";
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_INVALID_CREATE_SETTINGS =
             "The job is configured with fields [{0}] that are illegal to set at job creation";
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_INVALID_FIELDNAME_CHARS =
-            "Invalid field name ''{0}''. Field names cannot contain any of these characters: {1}";
+            "Invalid field name ''{0}''. Field names including over, by and partition fields cannot contain any of these characters: {1}";
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_INVALID_FIELDNAME =
             "Invalid field name ''{0}''. Field names including over, by and partition fields cannot be ''{1}''";
     public static final String JOB_CONFIG_INVALID_TIMEFORMAT = "Invalid Time format string ''{0}''";
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfigTests.java b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfigTests.java
index 503749c3ce1..5ebdc4f86ce 100644
--- a/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfigTests.java
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/config/AnalysisConfigTests.java
@@ -791,20 +791,6 @@ public class AnalysisConfigTests extends AbstractSerializingTestCase<AnalysisCon
         assertEquals(Messages.getMessage(Messages.JOB_CONFIG_PER_PARTITION_NORMALIZATION_CANNOT_USE_INFLUENCERS), e.getMessage());
     }
 
-    public void testVerifyInfluencerNames() {
-        AnalysisConfig.Builder config = createValidConfig();
-        Detector.Builder builder = new Detector.Builder(config.build().getDetectors().get(0));
-        config.build().getDetectors().set(0, builder.build());
-
-        config.setInfluencers(Arrays.asList("inf1", ""));
-        ElasticsearchException e = ESTestCase.expectThrows(ElasticsearchException.class, config::build);
-        assertEquals("Influencer names cannot be empty strings", e.getMessage());
-
-        config.setInfluencers(Arrays.asList("invalid\\backslash"));
-        e = ESTestCase.expectThrows(ElasticsearchException.class, config::build);
-        assertEquals("Invalid field name 'invalid\\backslash'. Field names cannot contain any of these characters: \",\\", e.getMessage());
-    }
-
     public void testVerify_GivenCategorizationFiltersContainInvalidRegex() {
         AnalysisConfig.Builder config = createValidCategorizationConfig();
         config.setCategorizationFilters(Arrays.asList("foo", "("));