diff --git a/src/tech/ml/dataset/join.clj b/src/tech/ml/dataset/join.clj
index b43d2870..24e214a2 100644
--- a/src/tech/ml/dataset/join.clj
+++ b/src/tech/ml/dataset/join.clj
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
     (keyword? orign-name) (keyword new-name)
     (symbol? orign-name) (symbol new-name)
     :else
-    (keyword new-name)))
+    new-name))
 
 
 (defn- colname->lhs-rhs-colnames
diff --git a/test/tech/ml/dataset/join_test.clj b/test/tech/ml/dataset/join_test.clj
index f11a1fbd..8cd0dde9 100644
--- a/test/tech/ml/dataset/join_test.clj
+++ b/test/tech/ml/dataset/join_test.clj
@@ -162,6 +162,18 @@
            (count (distinct (ds/column-names jt)))))))
 
 
+(deftest join-tuple-cname
+  (let [DS (ds/->dataset [{:a 11 [:a :b] 2}])
+        lj (ds/left-join :a DS DS)
+        rj (ds/right-join :a DS DS)
+        ljt (ds/left-join [[:a :b][:a :b]] DS DS)]
+    ;;no nil column names
+    (is (every? identity (ds/column-names lj)))
+    (is (every? identity (ds/column-names rj)))
+    (is (every? identity (ds/column-names ljt)))
+    ))
+
+
 
 (comment