diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 9d40dc9ad..366ccb1fb 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ See also [LTS releases](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/lts-releases/).
 * FEATURE: [vmctl](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl.html): support client-side TLS configuration for VictoriaMetrics destination specified via `--vm-*` cmd-line flags used in [InfluxDB](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-influxdb-1x), [Remote Read protocol](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-by-remote-read-protocol), [OpenTSDB](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-opentsdb), [Prometheus](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-prometheus) and [Promscale](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-promscale) migration modes.
 * FEATURE: [vmctl](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl.html): split [explore phase](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#migrating-data-from-victoriametrics) in `vm-native` mode by time intervals when [--vm-native-step-interval](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmctl/#using-time-based-chunking-of-migration) is specified. This should reduce probability of exceeding complexity limits for number of selected series during explore phase. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5369).
 * FEATURE: [graphite](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#graphite-render-api-usage): add support for `aggregateSeriesLists`, `diffSeriesLists`, `multiplySeriesLists` and `sumSeriesLists` functions. Thanks to @rbizos for [the pull request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/5809).
+* FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): added command line argument that enables OpenTelementry metric names and labels sanitization.
+
 
 * BUGFIX: prevent from automatic deletion of newly registered time series when it is queried immediately after the addition. The probability of this bug has been increased significantly after [v1.99.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.99.0) because of optimizations related to registering new time series. See [this](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5948) and [this](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5959) issue.
 * BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): properly set `Host` header in requests to scrape targets if it is specified via [`headers` option](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/sd_configs/#http-api-client-options). Thanks to @fholzer for [the bugreport](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/5969) and [the fix](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/pull/5970).
diff --git a/docs/Single-server-VictoriaMetrics.md b/docs/Single-server-VictoriaMetrics.md
index 9508806c0..de59e0e3d 100644
--- a/docs/Single-server-VictoriaMetrics.md
+++ b/docs/Single-server-VictoriaMetrics.md
@@ -1557,6 +1557,9 @@ VictoriaMetrics supports data ingestion via [OpenTelemetry protocol for metrics]
 VictoriaMetrics expects `protobuf`-encoded requests at `/opentelemetry/v1/metrics`.
 Set HTTP request header `Content-Encoding: gzip` when sending gzip-compressed data to `/opentelemetry/v1/metrics`.
 
+VictoriaMetrics automatically does not sanitize metric names for the data ingested via OpenTelemetry protocol
+If you need accepting metric and label names as is with sanitizing, then pass `-opentelemetry.sanitizeMetrics=true` command-line flag to VictoriaMetrics.
+
 See [How to use OpenTelemetry metrics with VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/guides/getting-started-with-opentelemetry/).
 
 ## JSON line format
diff --git a/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go b/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
index ba0a896ab..2e306fe70 100644
--- a/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
+++ b/lib/promrelabel/relabel.go
@@ -663,6 +663,11 @@ func SanitizeLabelName(name string) string {
 	return labelNameSanitizer.Transform(name)
 }
 
+// SanitizeLabelNameParts returns label name slice generated from metric name divided by unsupported characters
+func SanitizeLabelNameParts(name string) []string {
+	return unsupportedLabelNameChars.Split(name, -1)
+}
+
 var labelNameSanitizer = bytesutil.NewFastStringTransformer(func(s string) string {
 	return unsupportedLabelNameChars.ReplaceAllString(s, "_")
 })
diff --git a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/pb/pb.go b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/pb/pb.go
index 11d9c8291..883950e9f 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/pb/pb.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/pb/pb.go
@@ -190,6 +190,7 @@ func (sm *ScopeMetrics) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 // Metric represents the corresponding OTEL protobuf message
 type Metric struct {
 	Name      string
+	Unit      string
 	Gauge     *Gauge
 	Sum       *Sum
 	Histogram *Histogram
@@ -198,6 +199,7 @@ type Metric struct {
 
 func (m *Metric) marshalProtobuf(mm *easyproto.MessageMarshaler) {
 	mm.AppendString(1, m.Name)
+	mm.AppendString(3, m.Unit)
 	switch {
 	case m.Gauge != nil:
 		m.Gauge.marshalProtobuf(mm.AppendMessage(5))
@@ -213,6 +215,7 @@ func (m *Metric) marshalProtobuf(mm *easyproto.MessageMarshaler) {
 func (m *Metric) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 	// message Metric {
 	//   string name = 1;
+	//   string unit = 3;
 	//   oneof data {
 	//     Gauge gauge = 5;
 	//     Sum sum = 7;
@@ -233,6 +236,12 @@ func (m *Metric) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 				return fmt.Errorf("cannot read metric name")
 			}
 			m.Name = strings.Clone(name)
+		case 3:
+			unit, ok := fc.String()
+			if !ok {
+				return fmt.Errorf("cannot read metric unit")
+			}
+			m.Unit = strings.Clone(unit)
 		case 5:
 			data, ok := fc.MessageData()
 			if !ok {
@@ -617,6 +626,7 @@ func (ndp *NumberDataPoint) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 type Sum struct {
 	DataPoints             []*NumberDataPoint
 	AggregationTemporality AggregationTemporality
+	IsMonotonic            bool
 }
 
 // AggregationTemporality represents the corresponding OTEL protobuf enum
@@ -636,6 +646,7 @@ func (s *Sum) marshalProtobuf(mm *easyproto.MessageMarshaler) {
 		dp.marshalProtobuf(mm.AppendMessage(1))
 	}
 	mm.AppendInt64(2, int64(s.AggregationTemporality))
+	mm.AppendBool(3, s.IsMonotonic)
 }
 
 func (s *Sum) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
@@ -666,6 +677,12 @@ func (s *Sum) unmarshalProtobuf(src []byte) (err error) {
 				return fmt.Errorf("cannot read AggregationTemporality")
 			}
 			s.AggregationTemporality = AggregationTemporality(at)
+		case 3:
+			im, ok := fc.Bool()
+			if !ok {
+				return fmt.Errorf("cannot read IsMonotonic")
+			}
+			s.IsMonotonic = im
 		}
 	}
 	return nil
diff --git a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser.go b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser.go
index d0b18c7ce..92aeab67a 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser.go
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 package stream
 
 import (
+	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"strconv"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
+	"unicode"
 
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/metrics"
 
@@ -13,11 +16,72 @@ import (
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/fasttime"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/logger"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/prompbmarshal"
+	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/promrelabel"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/common"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/pb"
 	"github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/lib/writeconcurrencylimiter"
 )
 
+var (
+	// sanitizeMetrics controls sanitizing metric and label names ingested via OpenTelemetry protocol.
+	sanitizeMetrics = flag.Bool("opentelemetry.sanitizeMetrics", false, "Sanitize metric and label names for the ingested OpenTelemetry data")
+)
+
+// https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/blob/b8655058501bed61a06bb660869051491f46840b/pkg/translator/prometheus/normalize_name.go#L19
+var unitMap = []struct {
+	prefix string
+	units  map[string]string
+}{
+	{
+		units: map[string]string{
+			// Time
+			"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",
+
+			// SI
+			"m": "meters",
+			"V": "volts",
+			"A": "amperes",
+			"J": "joules",
+			"W": "watts",
+			"g": "grams",
+
+			// Misc
+			"Cel": "celsius",
+			"Hz":  "hertz",
+			"1":   "",
+			"%":   "percent",
+		},
+	}, {
+		prefix: "per",
+		units: map[string]string{
+			"s":  "second",
+			"m":  "minute",
+			"h":  "hour",
+			"d":  "day",
+			"w":  "week",
+			"mo": "month",
+			"y":  "year",
+		},
+	},
+}
+
 // ParseStream parses OpenTelemetry protobuf or json data from r and calls callback for the parsed rows.
 //
 // callback shouldn't hold tss items after returning.
@@ -58,10 +122,11 @@ func (wr *writeContext) appendSamplesFromScopeMetrics(sc *pb.ScopeMetrics) {
 			// skip metrics without names
 			continue
 		}
+		metricName := sanitizeMetricName(m)
 		switch {
 		case m.Gauge != nil:
 			for _, p := range m.Gauge.DataPoints {
-				wr.appendSampleFromNumericPoint(m.Name, p)
+				wr.appendSampleFromNumericPoint(metricName, p)
 			}
 		case m.Sum != nil:
 			if m.Sum.AggregationTemporality != pb.AggregationTemporalityCumulative {
@@ -69,11 +134,11 @@ func (wr *writeContext) appendSamplesFromScopeMetrics(sc *pb.ScopeMetrics) {
 				continue
 			}
 			for _, p := range m.Sum.DataPoints {
-				wr.appendSampleFromNumericPoint(m.Name, p)
+				wr.appendSampleFromNumericPoint(metricName, p)
 			}
 		case m.Summary != nil:
 			for _, p := range m.Summary.DataPoints {
-				wr.appendSamplesFromSummary(m.Name, p)
+				wr.appendSamplesFromSummary(metricName, p)
 			}
 		case m.Histogram != nil:
 			if m.Histogram.AggregationTemporality != pb.AggregationTemporalityCumulative {
@@ -81,11 +146,11 @@ func (wr *writeContext) appendSamplesFromScopeMetrics(sc *pb.ScopeMetrics) {
 				continue
 			}
 			for _, p := range m.Histogram.DataPoints {
-				wr.appendSamplesFromHistogram(m.Name, p)
+				wr.appendSamplesFromHistogram(metricName, p)
 			}
 		default:
 			rowsDroppedUnsupportedMetricType.Inc()
-			logger.Warnf("unsupported type for metric %q", m.Name)
+			logger.Warnf("unsupported type for metric %q", metricName)
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -209,7 +274,7 @@ func (wr *writeContext) appendSampleWithExtraLabel(metricName, labelName, labelV
 func appendAttributesToPromLabels(dst []prompbmarshal.Label, attributes []*pb.KeyValue) []prompbmarshal.Label {
 	for _, at := range attributes {
 		dst = append(dst, prompbmarshal.Label{
-			Name:  at.Key,
+			Name:  sanitizeLabelName(at.Key),
 			Value: at.Value.FormatString(),
 		})
 	}
@@ -290,6 +355,74 @@ func (wr *writeContext) parseRequestToTss(req *pb.ExportMetricsServiceRequest) {
 	}
 }
 
+// https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/blob/b8655058501bed61a06bb660869051491f46840b/pkg/translator/prometheus/normalize_label.go#L26
+func sanitizeLabelName(labelName string) string {
+	if !*sanitizeMetrics {
+		return labelName
+	}
+	if len(labelName) == 0 {
+		return labelName
+	}
+	labelName = promrelabel.SanitizeLabelName(labelName)
+	if unicode.IsDigit(rune(labelName[0])) {
+		return "key_" + labelName
+	} else if strings.HasPrefix(labelName, "_") && !strings.HasPrefix(labelName, "__") {
+		return "key" + labelName
+	}
+	return labelName
+}
+
+// https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/blob/b8655058501bed61a06bb660869051491f46840b/pkg/translator/prometheus/normalize_name.go#L83
+func sanitizeMetricName(metric *pb.Metric) string {
+	if !*sanitizeMetrics {
+		return metric.Name
+	}
+	nameTokens := promrelabel.SanitizeLabelNameParts(metric.Name)
+	unitTokens := strings.SplitN(metric.Unit, "/", len(unitMap))
+	for i, u := range unitTokens {
+		unitToken := strings.TrimSpace(u)
+		if unitToken == "" || strings.ContainsAny(unitToken, "{}") {
+			continue
+		}
+		if unit, ok := unitMap[i].units[unitToken]; ok {
+			unitToken = unit
+		}
+		if unitToken != "" && !containsToken(nameTokens, unitToken) {
+			unitPrefix := unitMap[i].prefix
+			if unitPrefix != "" {
+				nameTokens = append(nameTokens, unitPrefix, unitToken)
+			} else {
+				nameTokens = append(nameTokens, unitToken)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if metric.Sum != nil && metric.Sum.IsMonotonic {
+		nameTokens = moveOrAppend(nameTokens, "total")
+	} else if metric.Unit == "1" && metric.Gauge != nil {
+		nameTokens = moveOrAppend(nameTokens, "ratio")
+	}
+	return strings.Join(nameTokens, "_")
+}
+
+func containsToken(tokens []string, value string) bool {
+	for _, token := range tokens {
+		if token == value {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func moveOrAppend(tokens []string, value string) []string {
+	for t := range tokens {
+		if tokens[t] == value {
+			tokens = append(tokens[:t], tokens[t+1:]...)
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return append(tokens, value)
+}
+
 var wrPool sync.Pool
 
 func getWriteContext() *writeContext {
diff --git a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_test.go b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_test.go
index 1d5281d4a..242cb39f3 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_test.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_test.go
@@ -15,8 +15,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 func TestParseStream(t *testing.T) {
-	f := func(samples []*pb.Metric, tssExpected []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries) {
+	f := func(samples []*pb.Metric, tssExpected []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries, sanitize bool) {
 		t.Helper()
+		*sanitizeMetrics = sanitize
 
 		checkSeries := func(tss []prompbmarshal.TimeSeries) error {
 			if len(tss) != len(tssExpected) {
@@ -86,10 +87,10 @@ func TestParseStream(t *testing.T) {
 	// Test all metric types
 	f(
 		[]*pb.Metric{
-			generateGauge("my-gauge"),
-			generateHistogram("my-histogram"),
-			generateSum("my-sum"),
-			generateSummary("my-summary"),
+			generateGauge("my-gauge", ""),
+			generateHistogram("my-histogram", ""),
+			generateSum("my-sum", "", false),
+			generateSummary("my-summary", ""),
 		},
 		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
 			newPromPBTs("my-gauge", 15000, 15.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label1", "value1")),
@@ -106,16 +107,85 @@ func TestParseStream(t *testing.T) {
 			newPromPBTs("my-summary", 35000, 7.5, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label6", "value6"), kvLabel("quantile", "0.1")),
 			newPromPBTs("my-summary", 35000, 10.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label6", "value6"), kvLabel("quantile", "0.5")),
 			newPromPBTs("my-summary", 35000, 15.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label6", "value6"), kvLabel("quantile", "1")),
-		})
+		},
+		false,
+	)
 
 	// Test gauge
 	f(
 		[]*pb.Metric{
-			generateGauge("my-gauge"),
+			generateGauge("my-gauge", ""),
 		},
 		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
 			newPromPBTs("my-gauge", 15000, 15.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label1", "value1")),
 		},
+		false,
+	)
+
+	// Test gauge with unit and sanitization
+	f(
+		[]*pb.Metric{
+			generateGauge("my-gauge", "ms"),
+		},
+		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
+			newPromPBTs("my_gauge_milliseconds", 15000, 15.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label1", "value1")),
+		},
+		true,
+	)
+
+	// Test gauge with unit inside metric
+	f(
+		[]*pb.Metric{
+			generateGauge("my-gauge-milliseconds", "ms"),
+		},
+		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
+			newPromPBTs("my_gauge_milliseconds", 15000, 15.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label1", "value1")),
+		},
+		true,
+	)
+
+	// Test gauge with ratio suffix
+	f(
+		[]*pb.Metric{
+			generateGauge("my-gauge-milliseconds", "1"),
+		},
+		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
+			newPromPBTs("my_gauge_milliseconds_ratio", 15000, 15.0, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label1", "value1")),
+		},
+		true,
+	)
+
+	// Test sum with total suffix
+	f(
+		[]*pb.Metric{
+			generateSum("my-sum", "ms", true),
+		},
+		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
+			newPromPBTs("my_sum_milliseconds_total", 150000, 15.5, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label5", "value5")),
+		},
+		true,
+	)
+
+	// Test sum with total suffix, which exists in a metric name
+	f(
+		[]*pb.Metric{
+			generateSum("my-total-sum", "ms", true),
+		},
+		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
+			newPromPBTs("my_sum_milliseconds_total", 150000, 15.5, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label5", "value5")),
+		},
+		true,
+	)
+
+	// Test sum with total and complex suffix
+	f(
+		[]*pb.Metric{
+			generateSum("my-total-sum", "m/s", true),
+		},
+		[]prompbmarshal.TimeSeries{
+			newPromPBTs("my_sum_meters_per_second_total", 150000, 15.5, jobLabelValue, kvLabel("label5", "value5")),
+		},
+		true,
 	)
 }
 
@@ -152,7 +222,7 @@ func attributesFromKV(k, v string) []*pb.KeyValue {
 	}
 }
 
-func generateGauge(name string) *pb.Metric {
+func generateGauge(name, unit string) *pb.Metric {
 	n := int64(15)
 	points := []*pb.NumberDataPoint{
 		{
@@ -163,13 +233,14 @@ func generateGauge(name string) *pb.Metric {
 	}
 	return &pb.Metric{
 		Name: name,
+		Unit: unit,
 		Gauge: &pb.Gauge{
 			DataPoints: points,
 		},
 	}
 }
 
-func generateHistogram(name string) *pb.Metric {
+func generateHistogram(name, unit string) *pb.Metric {
 	points := []*pb.HistogramDataPoint{
 		{
 
@@ -183,6 +254,7 @@ func generateHistogram(name string) *pb.Metric {
 	}
 	return &pb.Metric{
 		Name: name,
+		Unit: unit,
 		Histogram: &pb.Histogram{
 			AggregationTemporality: pb.AggregationTemporalityCumulative,
 			DataPoints:             points,
@@ -190,7 +262,7 @@ func generateHistogram(name string) *pb.Metric {
 	}
 }
 
-func generateSum(name string) *pb.Metric {
+func generateSum(name, unit string, isMonotonic bool) *pb.Metric {
 	d := float64(15.5)
 	points := []*pb.NumberDataPoint{
 		{
@@ -201,14 +273,16 @@ func generateSum(name string) *pb.Metric {
 	}
 	return &pb.Metric{
 		Name: name,
+		Unit: unit,
 		Sum: &pb.Sum{
 			AggregationTemporality: pb.AggregationTemporalityCumulative,
 			DataPoints:             points,
+			IsMonotonic:            isMonotonic,
 		},
 	}
 }
 
-func generateSummary(name string) *pb.Metric {
+func generateSummary(name, unit string) *pb.Metric {
 	points := []*pb.SummaryDataPoint{
 		{
 			Attributes:   attributesFromKV("label6", "value6"),
@@ -233,6 +307,7 @@ func generateSummary(name string) *pb.Metric {
 	}
 	return &pb.Metric{
 		Name: name,
+		Unit: unit,
 		Summary: &pb.Summary{
 			DataPoints: points,
 		},
diff --git a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_timing_test.go b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_timing_test.go
index e1f73aaf1..2915786cd 100644
--- a/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_timing_test.go
+++ b/lib/protoparser/opentelemetry/stream/streamparser_timing_test.go
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ import (
 
 func BenchmarkParseStream(b *testing.B) {
 	samples := []*pb.Metric{
-		generateGauge("my-gauge"),
-		generateHistogram("my-histogram"),
-		generateSum("my-sum"),
-		generateSummary("my-summary"),
+		generateGauge("my-gauge", ""),
+		generateHistogram("my-histogram", ""),
+		generateSum("my-sum", "", false),
+		generateSummary("my-summary", ""),
 	}
 	b.SetBytes(1)
 	b.ReportAllocs()