diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3df47c3..3a98526 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # Changes
 
 * 2.6.next in progress
+  * Address [#537](https://github.com/seancorfield/honeysql/issues/537) by ignoring non-scalar values in metadata, and expanding support to numbers, and checking strings for suspicious characters.
   * Address [#536](https://github.com/seancorfield/honeysql/issues/536) by noting what will not work with PostgreSQL (but works with other databases).
   * Address [#533](https://github.com/seancorfield/honeysql/issues/533) by adding `honey.sql/*escape-?*` which can be bound to `false` to prevent `?` being escaped to `??` when used as an operator or function.
   * Address [#526](https://github.com/seancorfield/honeysql/issues/526) by using `format-var` in DDL, instead of `format-entity`.
diff --git a/deps.edn b/deps.edn
index fcc8311..84ed559 100644
--- a/deps.edn
+++ b/deps.edn
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   :1.9 {:override-deps {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.9.0"}}}
   :1.10 {:override-deps {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.10.3"}}}
   :1.11 {:override-deps {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.11.4"}}}
-  :1.12 {:override-deps {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.12.0-rc1"}}}
+  :1.12 {:override-deps {org.clojure/clojure {:mvn/version "1.12.0-rc2"}}}
 
   :elide ; to test #409 (assertion on helper docstrings)
   {:jvm-opts ["-Dclojure.compiler.elide-meta=[:doc]"]}
diff --git a/src/honey/sql.cljc b/src/honey/sql.cljc
index 4069e83..e879371 100644
--- a/src/honey/sql.cljc
+++ b/src/honey/sql.cljc
@@ -159,6 +159,15 @@
 ;; #533 mostly undocumented dynvar to prevent ? -> ?? escaping:
 (def ^:no-doc ^:dynamic *escape-?* true)
 
+;; suspicious entity names:
+(def ^:private suspicious #";")
+(defn- suspicious? [s] (boolean (re-find suspicious s)))
+(defn- suspicious-entity-check [entity]
+    (when-not *allow-suspicious-entities*
+      (when (suspicious? entity)
+        (throw (ex-info (str "suspicious character found in entity: " entity)
+                        {:disallowed suspicious})))))
+
 ;; clause helpers
 
 (defn clause-body
@@ -308,12 +317,8 @@
                              [%]
                              (str/split % #"\."))))
         parts       (parts-fn col-e)
-        entity      (str/join "." (map #(cond-> % (not= "*" %) (quote-fn)) parts))
-        suspicious #";"]
-    (when-not *allow-suspicious-entities*
-      (when (re-find suspicious entity)
-        (throw (ex-info (str "suspicious character found in entity: " entity)
-                        {:disallowed suspicious}))))
+        entity      (str/join "." (map #(cond-> % (not= "*" %) (quote-fn)) parts))]
+    (suspicious-entity-check entity)
     entity))
 
 (comment
@@ -562,9 +567,18 @@
   [x & [sep]]
   (when-let [data (meta x)]
     (let [items (reduce-kv (fn [acc k v]
-                             (if (true? v)
-                               (conj acc k)
-                               (conj acc k v)))
+                             (cond (number? v)
+                                   (conj acc (str v))
+                                   (true? v)
+                                   (conj acc k)
+                                   (ident? v)
+                                   (conj acc k v)
+                                   (string? v)
+                                   (do
+                                     (suspicious-entity-check v)
+                                     (conj acc k v))
+                                   :else ; quietly ignore other metadata
+                                   acc))
                            []
                            (reduce dissoc
                                    data
@@ -576,7 +590,7 @@
         (str/join (str sep " ") (mapv sql-kw items))))))
 
 (comment
-  (format-meta ^{:foo true :bar :baz} [])
+  (format-meta ^{:foo true :bar :baz :original {:line 1} :top 10} [])
 
   (binding [*ignored-metadata* [:bar]]
     (format-meta ^{:foo true :bar :baz} []))