You should put the description (or question text) into the LABEL attached to the variable instead of trying to use it as the NAME of the variable.   How did you IMPORT the data?  Did you use PROC IMPORT?   If you must use PROC IMPORT then make sure to set the VALIDVARNAME option to V7 before running the PROC IMPORT step so it will make valid SAS names for the variables.   Do you have the data in a TEXT file, such as a CSV file?   In that case READ the data with your own data step and you can can control the names of the variables, including attaching the descriptive labels.   ... View more