diff --git a/pkg/drivers/mysql/mysql.go b/pkg/drivers/mysql/mysql.go
index f1ce870b..a67c6f75 100644
--- a/pkg/drivers/mysql/mysql.go
+++ b/pkg/drivers/mysql/mysql.go
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ var (
 		// with each other for a give value of KINE_SCHEMA_MIGRATION env var
 		``,
 	}
-	createDB = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS "
+	createDB = "CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `%s`;"
 )
 
 func New(ctx context.Context, dataSourceName string, tlsInfo tls.Config, connPoolConfig generic.ConnectionPoolConfig, metricsRegisterer prometheus.Registerer) (server.Backend, error) {
@@ -185,7 +185,9 @@ func createDBIfNotExist(dataSourceName string) error {
 	}
 
 	if !exists {
-		if _, err = db.Exec(createDB + dbName); err != nil {
+		stmt := fmt.Sprintf(createDB, dbName)
+		logrus.Tracef("SETUP EXEC : %v", util.Stripped(stmt))
+		if _, err = db.Exec(stmt); err != nil {
 			if mysqlError, ok := err.(*mysql.MySQLError); !ok || mysqlError.Number != 1049 {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -194,7 +196,7 @@ func createDBIfNotExist(dataSourceName string) error {
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			if _, err = db.Exec(createDB + dbName); err != nil {
+			if _, err = db.Exec(stmt); err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/drivers/pgsql/pgsql.go b/pkg/drivers/pgsql/pgsql.go
index e339e846..28ddc43f 100644
--- a/pkg/drivers/pgsql/pgsql.go
+++ b/pkg/drivers/pgsql/pgsql.go
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ var (
 		// queries use the index.
 		`ALTER TABLE kine ALTER COLUMN name SET DATA TYPE TEXT COLLATE "C" USING name::TEXT COLLATE "C"`,
 	}
-	createDB = "CREATE DATABASE "
+	createDB = `CREATE DATABASE "%s";`
 )
 
 func New(ctx context.Context, dataSourceName string, tlsInfo tls.Config, connPoolConfig generic.ConnectionPoolConfig, metricsRegisterer prometheus.Registerer) (server.Backend, error) {
@@ -228,9 +228,8 @@ func createDBIfNotExist(dataSourceName string) error {
 		logrus.Warnf("failed to check existence of database %s, going to attempt create: %v", dbName, err)
 	}
 
-	stmt := createDB + dbName + ";"
-
 	if !exists {
+		stmt := fmt.Sprintf(createDB, dbName)
 		logrus.Tracef("SETUP EXEC : %v", util.Stripped(stmt))
 		if _, err = db.Exec(stmt); err != nil {
 			logrus.Warnf("failed to create database %s: %v", dbName, err)
@@ -265,6 +264,10 @@ func prepareDSN(dataSourceName string, tlsInfo tls.Config) (string, error) {
 		u.Path = "/kubernetes"
 	}
 
+	// makes quoting database and schema reference the same unquoted identifier
+	// See: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/12/sql-syntax-lexical.html#:~:text=unquoted%20names%20are%20always%20folded%20to%20lower%20case
+	u.Path = strings.ToLower(u.Path)
+
 	queryMap, err := url.ParseQuery(u.RawQuery)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err