diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 6019ff00..91a7cdbe 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ Imports:
     stats
 Suggests: 
     covr,
+    glue,
     knitr,
     labelled,
     lintr,
diff --git a/R/combine_checkboxes.R b/R/combine_checkboxes.R
index 027b2f0f..20bd638b 100644
--- a/R/combine_checkboxes.R
+++ b/R/combine_checkboxes.R
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@
 #' @param names_sep String to separate new column names from `names_prefix`.
 #' @param names_glue Instead of `names_sep` and `names_prefix`, you can supply
 #' a glue specification and the unique `.value` to create custom column names.
+#' @param names_repair What happens if the output has invalid column names?
+#' The default, "check_unique" is to error if the columns are duplicated.
+#' Use "minimal" to allow duplicates in the output, or "unique" to de-duplicated
+#' by adding numeric suffixes. See [vctrs::vec_as_names()] for more options.
 #' @param multi_value_label A string specifying the value to be used when multiple
 #' checkbox fields are selected. Default "Multiple".
 #' @param values_fill Value to use when no checkboxes are selected. Default `NA`.
@@ -63,6 +67,8 @@ combine_checkboxes <- function(supertbl,
   check_arg_is_supertbl(supertbl, req_cols = c("redcap_data", "redcap_metadata"))
   check_arg_is_character(names_prefix, len = 1)
   check_arg_is_character(names_sep, len = 1, any.missing = TRUE)
+  check_arg_is_character(names_repair, len = 1, any.missing = FALSE)
+  check_arg_is_character(names_glue, len = 1, any.missing = FALSE, null.ok = TRUE)
   check_arg_is_character(tbl, len = 1, any.missing = FALSE)
   check_arg_is_character(multi_value_label, len = 1, any.missing = TRUE)
   check_arg_is_character(values_fill, len = 1, any.missing = TRUE)
@@ -139,6 +145,7 @@ get_metadata_spec <- function(metadata_tbl,
 
   # Create a metadata reference table linking field name to raw and label values
   if (!is.null(names_glue)) {
+    check_installed("glue", reason = "to use `names_glue` in `combine_checkboxes()`")
     # Similar to pivot_*, use of `names_glue` overrides use of names_prefix/sep
     out <- metadata_tbl %>%
       filter(.data$field_name %in% selected_cols) %>%
@@ -152,7 +159,7 @@ get_metadata_spec <- function(metadata_tbl,
       mutate(
         .value = sub("___.*$", "", .data$field_name),
         .new_value = case_when(names_prefix != "" ~ paste(names_prefix, .value, sep = names_sep),
-                               .default = paste(names_prefix, .data$.value, sep = "")
+          .default = paste(names_prefix, .data$.value, sep = "")
         )
       )
   }
diff --git a/man/combine_and_repair_tbls.Rd b/man/combine_and_repair_tbls.Rd
index e6b35e86..edb4f653 100644
--- a/man/combine_and_repair_tbls.Rd
+++ b/man/combine_and_repair_tbls.Rd
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ combine_and_repair_tbls(data_tbl, data_tbl_mod, new_cols, names_repair)
 \item{data_tbl_mod}{A modified data table from \code{data_tbl}}
 
 \item{new_cols}{The new columns created for checkbox combination}
+
+\item{names_repair}{What happens if the output has invalid column names?
+The default, "check_unique" is to error if the columns are duplicated.
+Use "minimal" to allow duplicates in the output, or "unique" to de-duplicated
+by adding numeric suffixes. See \code{\link[vctrs:vec_as_names]{vctrs::vec_as_names()}} for more options.}
 }
 \value{
 a tibble
diff --git a/man/combine_checkboxes.Rd b/man/combine_checkboxes.Rd
index f95c74a3..3d78a441 100644
--- a/man/combine_checkboxes.Rd
+++ b/man/combine_checkboxes.Rd
@@ -33,6 +33,11 @@ single column. Required.}
 \item{names_glue}{Instead of \code{names_sep} and \code{names_prefix}, you can supply
 a glue specification and the unique \code{.value} to create custom column names.}
 
+\item{names_repair}{What happens if the output has invalid column names?
+The default, "check_unique" is to error if the columns are duplicated.
+Use "minimal" to allow duplicates in the output, or "unique" to de-duplicated
+by adding numeric suffixes. See \code{\link[vctrs:vec_as_names]{vctrs::vec_as_names()}} for more options.}
+
 \item{multi_value_label}{A string specifying the value to be used when multiple
 checkbox fields are selected. Default "Multiple".}
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-combine_checkboxes.R b/tests/testthat/test-combine_checkboxes.R
index 56325995..8f2f3af7 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-combine_checkboxes.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-combine_checkboxes.R
@@ -74,13 +74,11 @@ test_that("combine_checkboxes works for nonrepeat instrument", {
 })
 
 test_that("combine_checkboxes glue spec works", {
-  name_appender <- "suffix"
-
   out <- combine_checkboxes(
     supertbl = supertbl,
     tbl = "nonrepeat_instrument",
     cols = starts_with("multi"),
-    names_glue = "{.value}_{name_appender}",
+    names_glue = "{.value}_suffix",
     multi_value_label = "multiple", # multi_value_label declared
     values_fill = "none" # values_fill declared
   ) %>%
@@ -149,7 +147,7 @@ test_that("get_metadata_spec works", {
   out <- get_metadata_spec(
     metadata_tbl = supertbl$redcap_metadata[[1]],
     selected_cols = c("multi___1", "multi___2", "multi___3"),
-    names_prefix = "", names_sep = "_" # Mimic defaults
+    names_prefix = "", names_sep = "_", names_glue = NULL # Mimic defaults
   )
 
   expected_out <- tibble::tribble(