What are the best practices for naming database columns with special characters like umlauts in PHP?

When naming database columns with special characters like umlauts in PHP, it is recommended to avoid using special characters and instead stick to alphanumeric characters and underscores to ensure compatibility across different systems and avoid potential encoding issues. If special characters are necessary, consider using a standardized encoding format like UTF-8 to ensure proper handling.

// Example of naming a database column with an umlaut using UTF-8 encoding
$column_name = "über";