diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 45163e7889..a0dd979826 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   ([#1424](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/1424))
 - `opentelemetry-instrumentation-fastapi` Add support for regular expression matching and sanitization of HTTP headers.
   ([#1403](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/1403))
+- `opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi` Strip leading comments from SQL queries when generating the span name.
+  ([#1434](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python-contrib/pull/1434))
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/dbapi/__init__.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/dbapi/__init__.py
index c2ee79e811..3496d82590 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/dbapi/__init__.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/src/opentelemetry/instrumentation/dbapi/__init__.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 
 import functools
 import logging
+import re
 import typing
 
 import wrapt
@@ -368,6 +369,7 @@ def __init__(self, db_api_integration: DatabaseApiIntegration) -> None:
             else {}
         )
         self._connect_module = self._db_api_integration.connect_module
+        self._leading_comment_remover = re.compile(r"^/\*.*?\*/")
 
     def _populate_span(
         self,
@@ -397,7 +399,8 @@ def _populate_span(
 
     def get_operation_name(self, cursor, args):  # pylint: disable=no-self-use
         if args and isinstance(args[0], str):
-            return args[0].split()[0]
+            # Strip leading comments so we get the operation name.
+            return self._leading_comment_remover.sub('', args[0]).split()[0]
         return ""
 
     def get_statement(self, cursor, args):  # pylint: disable=no-self-use
diff --git a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/tests/test_dbapi_integration.py b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/tests/test_dbapi_integration.py
index 8502bd46ee..9f9371ad66 100644
--- a/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/tests/test_dbapi_integration.py
+++ b/instrumentation/opentelemetry-instrumentation-dbapi/tests/test_dbapi_integration.py
@@ -88,11 +88,17 @@ def test_span_name(self):
         query"""
         )
         cursor.execute("tab\tseparated query")
+        cursor.execute("/* leading comment */ query")
+        cursor.execute("/* leading comment */ query /* trailing comment */")
+        cursor.execute("query /* trailing comment */")
         spans_list = self.memory_exporter.get_finished_spans()
-        self.assertEqual(len(spans_list), 3)
+        self.assertEqual(len(spans_list), 6)
         self.assertEqual(spans_list[0].name, "Test")
         self.assertEqual(spans_list[1].name, "multi")
         self.assertEqual(spans_list[2].name, "tab")
+        self.assertEqual(spans_list[3].name, "query")
+        self.assertEqual(spans_list[4].name, "query")
+        self.assertEqual(spans_list[5].name, "query")
 
     def test_span_succeeded_with_capture_of_statement_parameters(self):
         connection_props = {