diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml b/plugins/git4idea/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml
index 8c607ff53468..1c51a2b4d4e2 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml
@@ -504,6 +504,7 @@
     <advancedSetting id="git.use.push.force.with.lease" default="true" groupKey="advanced.settings.git"/>
     <advancedSetting id="git.update.incoming.outgoing.info" default="true" groupKey="advanced.settings.git"/>
     <advancedSetting id="git.use.schannel.on.windows" default="false" groupKey="advanced.settings.git" os="windows"/>
+    <advancedSetting id="git.branch.cleanup.symbol" default="-" groupKey="advanced.settings.git"/>
     <registryKey key="git.execute.with.mediator" defaultValue="true"
                  description="Use wrapper executable on Windows to support soft Git process cancellation."/>
     <registryKey key="git.blocking.read" defaultValue="true"
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/resources/messages/GitBundle.properties b/plugins/git4idea/resources/messages/GitBundle.properties
index 64cf712ba2e0..4aefc5e8e4bf 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/resources/messages/GitBundle.properties
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/resources/messages/GitBundle.properties
@@ -1462,6 +1462,8 @@ advanced.setting.git.read.content.with=Apply content transformation when reading
 advanced.setting.git.read.content.with.description=Use '--filters' or '--textconv' flags for 'git cat-file' command when reading file content from Git
 advanced.setting.git.use.schannel.on.windows=Use Windows certificate store
 advanced.setting.git.use.schannel.on.windows.description=Force Git to use Windows certificate store to verify SSL connections. Works for Git 2.14 and above.
+advanced.setting.git.branch.cleanup.symbol=Branch name cleanup symbol
+advanced.setting.git.branch.cleanup.symbol.description=Symbol that will be used instead prohibited symbols in git branch names
 git.content.transform.none=None
 git.content.transform.filters=Filters
 git.content.transform.textconv=TextConv
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/validators/GitRefNameValidator.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/validators/GitRefNameValidator.java
index 400952a12cf7..4f572dc5f28b 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/validators/GitRefNameValidator.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/validators/GitRefNameValidator.java
@@ -1,20 +1,7 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2000-2011 JetBrains s.r.o.
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
+// Copyright 2000-2023 JetBrains s.r.o. and contributors. Use of this source code is governed by the Apache 2.0 license.
 package git4idea.validators;
 
+import com.intellij.openapi.options.advanced.AdvancedSettings;
 import com.intellij.openapi.ui.InputValidator;
 import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
@@ -42,20 +29,31 @@ public final class GitRefNameValidator implements InputValidator {
     sb.append("]");
     CONTROL_CHARS = sb.toString();
   }
-  private static final Pattern ILLEGALCHARS = Pattern.compile(
+
+  private static final Pattern REPLACE = Pattern.compile(
+    " +|" +                           // space
+    CONTROL_CHARS
+  );
+
+  private static final Pattern DROP = Pattern.compile(
     "(^\\.)|" +                             // begins with a dot
     "(^-)|" +                               // begins with '-'
     "(^/)|" +                               // begins with '/'
-    "(\\.\\.)+|" +                          // two dots in a row
-    "[ ~:^?*\\[\\\\]+|(@\\{)+|" +           // contains invalid character: space, one of ~:^?*[\ or @{ sequence
-    CONTROL_CHARS                           // contains a control character
+    "[~:^?*\"\\[\\\\]+|(@\\{)+|" +          // invalid character: one of ~:^?*"[\ or @{ sequence
+    "/(?=/)|" +                             // has a double slash
+    "(\\.(?=\\.))+|" +                      // two dots in a row
+    "\\.(?=/)|" +                           // has a dot before slash in the middle
+    "(?<=/)\\.|"                            // has a dot after slash in the middle
   );
 
-  private static final Pattern ILLEGAL = Pattern.compile(
-    "(([./]|\\.lock)$)|" +                  // ends with dot, slash or ".lock"
-    "\\.(?=/)|" +                           // has a dot before slash in the middle
-    "(?<=/)\\.|" +                          // has a dot after slash in the middle
-    ILLEGALCHARS.pattern()
+  private static final Pattern ENDPATTERNS = Pattern.compile(
+    "(([./]|\\.lock)$)|"                    // ends with dot, slash or ".lock"
+  );
+
+  private static final Pattern VALIDATEPATTERNS = Pattern.compile(
+    DROP.pattern() +
+    ENDPATTERNS.pattern() +
+    REPLACE.pattern()
   );
 
   public static GitRefNameValidator getInstance() {
@@ -66,7 +64,7 @@ public final class GitRefNameValidator implements InputValidator {
 
   @Override
   public boolean checkInput(String inputString) {
-    return !StringUtil.isEmptyOrSpaces(inputString) && !ILLEGAL.matcher(inputString).find();
+    return !StringUtil.isEmptyOrSpaces(inputString) && !VALIDATEPATTERNS.matcher(inputString).find();
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -76,16 +74,12 @@ public final class GitRefNameValidator implements InputValidator {
 
   @NotNull
   public String cleanUpBranchName(@NotNull String branchName) {
-    return deduplicateChars(branchName.replaceAll(ILLEGAL.pattern(), "_").replaceAll("\"", ""));
+    return cleanUpBranchNameOnTyping(branchName).replaceAll(ENDPATTERNS.pattern(), "");
   }
 
+  // On typing replace only space, drop other invalid chars.
   @NotNull
   public String cleanUpBranchNameOnTyping(@NotNull String branchName) {
-    return branchName.replaceAll(ILLEGALCHARS.pattern(), "_");
-  }
-
-  @NotNull
-  public String deduplicateChars(@NotNull String branchName) {
-    return branchName.replaceAll("(/){2,}", "/" ).replaceAll("(_){2,}", "_");
+    return branchName.replaceAll(DROP.pattern(), "").replaceAll(REPLACE.pattern(), AdvancedSettings.getString("git.branch.cleanup.symbol"));
   }
 }