diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/azure/azure_rm_virtualnetwork.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/azure/azure_rm_virtualnetwork.py
index 9f1e7e61f23..d7bbdd00d85 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/azure/azure_rm_virtualnetwork.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/azure/azure_rm_virtualnetwork.py
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ except ImportError:
     pass
 
 
-NAME_PATTERN = re.compile(r"^[a-zA-Z0-9_]{1,61}[a-z0-9_]$")
+NAME_PATTERN = re.compile(r"^[a-zA-Z0-9]+[a-zA-Z0-9\._-]+[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$")
 
 
 def virtual_network_to_dict(vnet):