diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/CloudSqlInstanceName.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/CloudSqlInstanceName.java
index a207f320d..78a59e324 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/CloudSqlInstanceName.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/CloudSqlInstanceName.java
@@ -31,10 +31,42 @@ class CloudSqlInstanceName {
   // Some legacy project ids are domain-scoped (e.g. "example.com:PROJECT:REGION:INSTANCE")
   private static final Pattern CONNECTION_NAME =
       Pattern.compile("([^:]+(:[^:]+)?):([^:]+):([^:]+)");
+
+  /**
+   * The domain name pattern in accordance with RFC 1035, RFC 1123 and RFC 2181.
+   *
+   * <p>Explanation of the Regex:
+   *
+   * <p>^: Matches the beginning of the string.<br>
+   * (?=.{1,255}$): Positive lookahead assertion to ensure the domain name is between 1 and 255
+   * characters long.<br>
+   * (?!-): Negative lookahead assertion to prevent hyphens at the beginning.<br>
+   * [A-Za-z0-9-]+: Matches one or more alphanumeric characters or hyphens.<br>
+   * (\\.[A-Za-z0-9-]+)*: Matches zero or more occurrences of a period followed by one or more
+   * alphanumeric characters or hyphens (for subdomains).<br>
+   * \\.: Matches a period before the TLD.<br>
+   * [A-Za-z]{2,}: Matches two or more letters for the TLD.<br>
+   * $: Matches the end of the string.<br>
+   */
+  private static final Pattern DOMAIN_NAME =
+      Pattern.compile("^(?=.{1,255}$)(?!-)[A-Za-z0-9-]+(\\.[A-Za-z0-9-]+)*\\.[A-Za-z]{2,}$");
+
   private final String projectId;
   private final String regionId;
   private final String instanceId;
   private final String connectionName;
+  private final String domainName;
+
+  /**
+   * Validates that a string is a well-formed domain name.
+   *
+   * @param domain the domain name to check
+   * @return true if domain is a well-formed domain name.
+   */
+  public static boolean isValidDomain(String domain) {
+    Matcher matcher = DOMAIN_NAME.matcher(domain);
+    return matcher.matches();
+  }
 
   /**
    * Initializes a new CloudSqlInstanceName class.
@@ -42,7 +74,16 @@ class CloudSqlInstanceName {
    * @param connectionName instance connection name in the format "PROJECT_ID:REGION_ID:INSTANCE_ID"
    */
   CloudSqlInstanceName(String connectionName) {
-    this.connectionName = connectionName;
+    this(connectionName, null);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Initializes a new CloudSqlInstanceName class containing the domain name.
+   *
+   * @param connectionName instance connection name in the format "PROJECT_ID:REGION_ID:INSTANCE_ID"
+   * @param domainName the domain name used to look up the instance, or null.
+   */
+  CloudSqlInstanceName(String connectionName, String domainName) {
     Matcher matcher = CONNECTION_NAME.matcher(connectionName);
     checkArgument(
         matcher.matches(),
@@ -50,9 +91,21 @@ class CloudSqlInstanceName {
             "[%s] Cloud SQL connection name is invalid, expected string in the form of"
                 + " \"<PROJECT_ID>:<REGION_ID>:<INSTANCE_ID>\".",
             connectionName));
+    this.connectionName = connectionName;
     this.projectId = matcher.group(1);
     this.regionId = matcher.group(3);
     this.instanceId = matcher.group(4);
+
+    // Only set this.domainName when it is not empty
+    if (domainName != null && !domainName.isEmpty()) {
+      Matcher domainMatcher = DOMAIN_NAME.matcher(domainName);
+      checkArgument(
+          domainMatcher.matches(),
+          String.format("[%s] Domain name is invalid, expected a valid domain name", domainName));
+      this.domainName = domainName;
+    } else {
+      this.domainName = null;
+    }
   }
 
   String getConnectionName() {
@@ -71,6 +124,10 @@ String getInstanceId() {
     return instanceId;
   }
 
+  String getDomainName() {
+    return domainName;
+  }
+
   @Override
   public String toString() {
     return connectionName;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/Connector.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/Connector.java
index 7d75ee63b..3de6e8d63 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/Connector.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/Connector.java
@@ -157,6 +157,13 @@ ConnectionInfoCache getConnection(final ConnectionConfig config) {
     return instance;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Updates the ConnectionConfig to ensure that the cloudSqlInstance field is set, resolving the
+   * domainName using the InstanceNameResolver.
+   *
+   * @param config the configuration to resolve.
+   * @return a ConnectionConfig guaranteed to have the CloudSqlInstance field set.
+   */
   private ConnectionConfig resolveConnectionName(ConnectionConfig config) {
     // If domainName is not set, return the original configuration unmodified.
     if (config.getDomainName() == null || config.getDomainName().isEmpty()) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/LazyRefreshConnectionInfoCache.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/LazyRefreshConnectionInfoCache.java
index 424c50243..c5af65864 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/LazyRefreshConnectionInfoCache.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/LazyRefreshConnectionInfoCache.java
@@ -44,12 +44,15 @@ public LazyRefreshConnectionInfoCache(
       ConnectionInfoRepository connectionInfoRepository,
       CredentialFactory tokenSourceFactory,
       KeyPair keyPair) {
+
+    CloudSqlInstanceName instanceName =
+        new CloudSqlInstanceName(config.getCloudSqlInstance(), config.getDomainName());
+
     this.config = config;
-    this.instanceName = new CloudSqlInstanceName(config.getCloudSqlInstance());
+    this.instanceName = instanceName;
 
     AccessTokenSupplier accessTokenSupplier =
         DefaultAccessTokenSupplier.newInstance(config.getAuthType(), tokenSourceFactory);
-    CloudSqlInstanceName instanceName = new CloudSqlInstanceName(config.getCloudSqlInstance());
 
     this.refreshStrategy =
         new LazyRefreshStrategy(
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/RefreshAheadConnectionInfoCache.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/RefreshAheadConnectionInfoCache.java
index 0f8bf5063..c56c36a17 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/RefreshAheadConnectionInfoCache.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/RefreshAheadConnectionInfoCache.java
@@ -48,12 +48,15 @@ public RefreshAheadConnectionInfoCache(
       ListeningScheduledExecutorService executor,
       ListenableFuture<KeyPair> keyPair,
       long minRefreshDelayMs) {
+
+    CloudSqlInstanceName instanceName =
+        new CloudSqlInstanceName(config.getCloudSqlInstance(), config.getDomainName());
+
     this.config = config;
-    this.instanceName = new CloudSqlInstanceName(config.getCloudSqlInstance());
+    this.instanceName = instanceName;
 
     AccessTokenSupplier accessTokenSupplier =
         DefaultAccessTokenSupplier.newInstance(config.getAuthType(), tokenSourceFactory);
-    CloudSqlInstanceName instanceName = new CloudSqlInstanceName(config.getCloudSqlInstance());
 
     this.refreshStrategy =
         new RefreshAheadStrategy(
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/ConnectorTest.java b/core/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/ConnectorTest.java
index 9879bad04..dc4432384 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/ConnectorTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/sql/core/ConnectorTest.java
@@ -154,6 +154,46 @@ public void create_successfulPublicConnectionWithDomainName()
     assertThat(readLine(socket)).isEqualTo(SERVER_MESSAGE);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void create_successfulPrivateConnection_UsesInstanceName_DomainNameIgnored()
+      throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+    FakeSslServer sslServer = new FakeSslServer();
+    ConnectionConfig config =
+        new ConnectionConfig.Builder()
+            .withDomainName("db.example.com")
+            .withCloudSqlInstance("myProject:myRegion:myInstance")
+            .withIpTypes("PRIVATE")
+            .build();
+
+    int port = sslServer.start(PRIVATE_IP);
+
+    Connector connector = newConnector(config.getConnectorConfig(), port);
+
+    Socket socket = connector.connect(config, TEST_MAX_REFRESH_MS);
+
+    assertThat(readLine(socket)).isEqualTo(SERVER_MESSAGE);
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void create_successfulPrivateConnection_UsesInstanceName_EmptyDomainNameIgnored()
+      throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+    FakeSslServer sslServer = new FakeSslServer();
+    ConnectionConfig config =
+        new ConnectionConfig.Builder()
+            .withDomainName("")
+            .withCloudSqlInstance("myProject:myRegion:myInstance")
+            .withIpTypes("PRIVATE")
+            .build();
+
+    int port = sslServer.start(PRIVATE_IP);
+
+    Connector connector = newConnector(config.getConnectorConfig(), port);
+
+    Socket socket = connector.connect(config, TEST_MAX_REFRESH_MS);
+
+    assertThat(readLine(socket)).isEqualTo(SERVER_MESSAGE);
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void create_throwsErrorForDomainNameWithNoResolver()
       throws IOException, InterruptedException {