--- ORM/Persisters/StandardEntityPersister.php	(revision 7479)
+++ ORM/Persisters/StandardEntityPersister.php	(working copy)
@@ -967,7 +967,14 @@
         if (isset($this->_sqlTableAliases[$class->name])) {
             return $this->_sqlTableAliases[$class->name];
         }
-        $tableAlias = $class->primaryTable['name'][0] . $this->_sqlAliasCounter++;
+
+        // Loop until we see the first eligible alias character
+        $i = 0;
+        do {
+            $aliasChar = $class->primaryTable['name'][$i++];
+        } while(!preg_match("/[a-z]/i", $aliasChar));
+
+        $tableAlias = $aliasChar . $this->_sqlAliasCounter++;
         $this->_sqlTableAliases[$class->name] = $tableAlias;
 
         return $tableAlias;