diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7094c5248cb..78cd642217d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.htm
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Changed
+
+- Update `github.com/prometheus/common` to v0.62.0., which changes the `NameValidationScheme` to `NoEscaping`. This allows metrics names to keep original delimiters (e.g. `.`), rather than replacing with underscores. This is controlled by the `Content-Type` header, or can be reverted by setting `NameValidationScheme` to `LegacyValidation` in `github.com/prometheus/common/model` (#6198)
+
 ### Added
 
 - Add `ValueFromAttribute` and `KeyValueFromAttribute` in `go.opentelemetry.io/otel/log`. (#6180)
diff --git a/exporters/prometheus/config_test.go b/exporters/prometheus/config_test.go
index d0432cabada..26b0bfbdf10 100644
--- a/exporters/prometheus/config_test.go
+++ b/exporters/prometheus/config_test.go
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ func TestNewConfig(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			wantConfig: config{
 				registerer: prometheus.DefaultRegisterer,
-				namespace:  "test_",
+				namespace:  "test/_",
 			},
 		},
 	}
diff --git a/exporters/prometheus/exporter.go b/exporters/prometheus/exporter.go
index 50c95a16f7f..a8677e93a26 100644
--- a/exporters/prometheus/exporter.go
+++ b/exporters/prometheus/exporter.go
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ type collector struct {
 
 // prometheus counters MUST have a _total suffix by default:
 // https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-specification/blob/v1.20.0/specification/compatibility/prometheus_and_openmetrics.md
-const counterSuffix = "_total"
+const counterSuffix = "total"
 
 // New returns a Prometheus Exporter.
 func New(opts ...Option) (*Exporter, error) {
@@ -368,38 +368,38 @@ func createScopeInfoMetric(scope instrumentation.Scope) (prometheus.Metric, erro
 
 var unitSuffixes = map[string]string{
 	// Time
-	"d":   "_days",
-	"h":   "_hours",
-	"min": "_minutes",
-	"s":   "_seconds",
-	"ms":  "_milliseconds",
-	"us":  "_microseconds",
-	"ns":  "_nanoseconds",
+	"d":   "days",
+	"h":   "hours",
+	"min": "minutes",
+	"s":   "seconds",
+	"ms":  "milliseconds",
+	"us":  "microseconds",
+	"ns":  "nanoseconds",
 
 	// Bytes
-	"By":   "_bytes",
-	"KiBy": "_kibibytes",
-	"MiBy": "_mebibytes",
-	"GiBy": "_gibibytes",
-	"TiBy": "_tibibytes",
-	"KBy":  "_kilobytes",
-	"MBy":  "_megabytes",
-	"GBy":  "_gigabytes",
-	"TBy":  "_terabytes",
+	"By":   "bytes",
+	"KiBy": "kibibytes",
+	"MiBy": "mebibytes",
+	"GiBy": "gibibytes",
+	"TiBy": "tibibytes",
+	"KBy":  "kilobytes",
+	"MBy":  "megabytes",
+	"GBy":  "gigabytes",
+	"TBy":  "terabytes",
 
 	// SI
-	"m": "_meters",
-	"V": "_volts",
-	"A": "_amperes",
-	"J": "_joules",
-	"W": "_watts",
-	"g": "_grams",
+	"m": "meters",
+	"V": "volts",
+	"A": "amperes",
+	"J": "joules",
+	"W": "watts",
+	"g": "grams",
 
 	// Misc
-	"Cel": "_celsius",
-	"Hz":  "_hertz",
-	"1":   "_ratio",
-	"%":   "_percent",
+	"Cel": "celsius",
+	"Hz":  "hertz",
+	"1":   "ratio",
+	"%":   "percent",
 }
 
 // getName returns the sanitized name, prefixed with the namespace and suffixed with unit.
@@ -414,19 +414,31 @@ func (c *collector) getName(m metricdata.Metrics, typ *dto.MetricType) string {
 		// Remove the _total suffix here, as we will re-add the total suffix
 		// later, and it needs to come after the unit suffix.
 		name = strings.TrimSuffix(name, counterSuffix)
+		// If the last character is an underscore, or would be converted to an underscore, trim it from the name.
+		// an underscore will be added back in later.
+		if convertsToUnderscore(rune(name[len(name)-1])) {
+			name = name[:len(name)-1]
+		}
 	}
 	if c.namespace != "" {
 		name = c.namespace + name
 	}
 	if suffix, ok := unitSuffixes[m.Unit]; ok && !c.withoutUnits && !strings.HasSuffix(name, suffix) {
-		name += suffix
+		name += "_" + suffix
 	}
 	if addCounterSuffix {
-		name += counterSuffix
+		name += "_" + counterSuffix
 	}
 	return name
 }
 
+// convertsToUnderscore returns true if the character would be converted to an
+// underscore when the escaping scheme is underscore escaping. This is meant to
+// capture any character that should be considered a "delimiter".
+func convertsToUnderscore(b rune) bool {
+	return !((b >= 'a' && b <= 'z') || (b >= 'A' && b <= 'Z') || b == ':' || (b >= '0' && b <= '9'))
+}
+
 func (c *collector) metricType(m metricdata.Metrics) *dto.MetricType {
 	switch v := m.Data.(type) {
 	case metricdata.Histogram[int64], metricdata.Histogram[float64]:
diff --git a/exporters/prometheus/exporter_test.go b/exporters/prometheus/exporter_test.go
index 8718a217289..f40da6f7f31 100644
--- a/exporters/prometheus/exporter_test.go
+++ b/exporters/prometheus/exporter_test.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter(t *testing.T) {
 		recordMetrics       func(ctx context.Context, meter otelmetric.Meter)
 		options             []Option
 		expectedFile        string
-		enableUTF8          bool
+		disableUTF8         bool
 	}{
 		{
 			name:         "counter",
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:         "sanitized attributes to labels",
 			expectedFile: "testdata/sanitized_labels.txt",
+			disableUTF8:  true,
 			options:      []Option{WithoutUnits()},
 			recordMetrics: func(ctx context.Context, meter otelmetric.Meter) {
 				opt := otelmetric.WithAttributes(
@@ -404,7 +405,6 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter(t *testing.T) {
 		{
 			name:         "counter utf-8",
 			expectedFile: "testdata/counter_utf8.txt",
-			enableUTF8:   true,
 			recordMetrics: func(ctx context.Context, meter otelmetric.Meter) {
 				opt := otelmetric.WithAttributes(
 					attribute.Key("A.G").String("B"),
@@ -471,11 +471,11 @@ func TestPrometheusExporter(t *testing.T) {
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			if tc.enableUTF8 {
-				model.NameValidationScheme = model.UTF8Validation
+			if tc.disableUTF8 {
+				model.NameValidationScheme = model.LegacyValidation
 				defer func() {
 					// Reset to defaults
-					model.NameValidationScheme = model.LegacyValidation
+					model.NameValidationScheme = model.UTF8Validation
 				}()
 			}
 			ctx := context.Background()