Given the SAS architecture limitation, I do not believe you have a choice with naming columns, and more accurately, the problem is circumvented, not solved, with the SAS OPTIONS setting VALIDVARNAME=.
From the SAS support
http://support.sas.com/ website, I found some SAS-host DOC reference and also a SAS conference paper on the topic.
Scott Barry
SBBWorks, Inc.
SAS System Option VALIDVARNAME=
http://support.sas.com/documentation/cdl/en/lrdict/61724/HTML/default/a000279245.htm
Avoiding Common Traps When Accessing RDBMS Data
Mike Rhoads, Westat, Rockville, MD
http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings09/141-2009.pdf