diff --git a/moto/elbv2/exceptions.py b/moto/elbv2/exceptions.py
index 569fa7ee..c6e2256e 100644
--- a/moto/elbv2/exceptions.py
+++ b/moto/elbv2/exceptions.py
@@ -166,3 +166,11 @@ class DuplicatePriorityError(ELBClientError):
         super(DuplicatePriorityError, self).__init__(
             "ValidationError",
             "Priority '%s' was provided multiple times" % invalid_value)
+
+
+class InvalidTargetGroupNameError(ELBClientError):
+
+    def __init__(self, msg):
+        super(InvalidTargetGroupNameError, self).__init__(
+            "ValidationError", msg
+        )
diff --git a/moto/elbv2/models.py b/moto/elbv2/models.py
index 87e6d773..0f3ee451 100644
--- a/moto/elbv2/models.py
+++ b/moto/elbv2/models.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import datetime
+import re
 from moto.compat import OrderedDict
 from moto.core import BaseBackend, BaseModel
 from moto.ec2.models import ec2_backends
@@ -21,7 +22,8 @@ from .exceptions import (
     ActionTargetGroupNotFoundError,
     InvalidDescribeRulesRequest,
     RuleNotFoundError,
-    DuplicatePriorityError
+    DuplicatePriorityError,
+    InvalidTargetGroupNameError
 )
 
 
@@ -264,6 +266,25 @@ class ELBv2Backend(BaseBackend):
         return [rule]
 
     def create_target_group(self, name, **kwargs):
+        if len(name) > 32:
+            raise InvalidTargetGroupNameError(
+                "Target group name '%s' cannot be longer than '32' characters" % name
+            )
+        if not re.match('^[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+$', name):
+            raise InvalidTargetGroupNameError(
+                "Target group name '%s' can only contain characters that are alphanumeric characters or hyphens(-)" % name
+            )
+
+        # undocumented validation
+        if not re.match('(?!.*--)(?!^-)(?!.*-$)^[A-Za-z0-9-]+$', name):
+            raise InvalidTargetGroupNameError(
+                "1 validation error detected: Value '%s' at 'targetGroup.targetGroupArn.targetGroupName' failed to satisfy constraint: Member must satisfy regular expression pattern: (?!.*--)(?!^-)(?!.*-$)^[A-Za-z0-9-]+$" % name
+            )
+
+        if name.startswith('-') or name.endswith('-'):
+            raise InvalidTargetGroupNameError(
+                "Target group name '%s' cannot begin or end with '-'" % name
+            )
         for target_group in self.target_groups.values():
             if target_group.name == name:
                 raise DuplicateTargetGroupName()
diff --git a/tests/test_elbv2/test_elbv2.py b/tests/test_elbv2/test_elbv2.py
index 4a47397e..43d72b39 100644
--- a/tests/test_elbv2/test_elbv2.py
+++ b/tests/test_elbv2/test_elbv2.py
@@ -328,6 +328,65 @@ def test_create_target_group_and_listeners():
     response.get('TargetGroups').should.have.length_of(0)
 
 
+@mock_elbv2
+@mock_ec2
+def test_create_invalid_target_group():
+    conn = boto3.client('elbv2', region_name='us-east-1')
+    ec2 = boto3.resource('ec2', region_name='us-east-1')
+
+    vpc = ec2.create_vpc(CidrBlock='172.28.7.0/24', InstanceTenancy='default')
+
+    # Fail to create target group with name which length is 33
+    long_name = 'A' * 33
+    with assert_raises(ClientError):
+        conn.create_target_group(
+            Name=long_name,
+            Protocol='HTTP',
+            Port=8080,
+            VpcId=vpc.id,
+            HealthCheckProtocol='HTTP',
+            HealthCheckPort='8080',
+            HealthCheckPath='/',
+            HealthCheckIntervalSeconds=5,
+            HealthCheckTimeoutSeconds=5,
+            HealthyThresholdCount=5,
+            UnhealthyThresholdCount=2,
+            Matcher={'HttpCode': '200'})
+
+    invalid_names = ['-name', 'name-', '-name-', 'example.com', 'test@test', 'Na--me']
+    for name in invalid_names:
+        with assert_raises(ClientError):
+            conn.create_target_group(
+                Name=name,
+                Protocol='HTTP',
+                Port=8080,
+                VpcId=vpc.id,
+                HealthCheckProtocol='HTTP',
+                HealthCheckPort='8080',
+                HealthCheckPath='/',
+                HealthCheckIntervalSeconds=5,
+                HealthCheckTimeoutSeconds=5,
+                HealthyThresholdCount=5,
+                UnhealthyThresholdCount=2,
+                Matcher={'HttpCode': '200'})
+
+    valid_names = ['name', 'Name', '000']
+    for name in valid_names:
+        conn.create_target_group(
+            Name=name,
+            Protocol='HTTP',
+            Port=8080,
+            VpcId=vpc.id,
+            HealthCheckProtocol='HTTP',
+            HealthCheckPort='8080',
+            HealthCheckPath='/',
+            HealthCheckIntervalSeconds=5,
+            HealthCheckTimeoutSeconds=5,
+            HealthyThresholdCount=5,
+            UnhealthyThresholdCount=2,
+            Matcher={'HttpCode': '200'})
+
+
 @mock_elbv2
 @mock_ec2
 def test_describe_paginated_balancers():