diff --git a/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py b/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py
index bc11e4f907..e656fbed64 100644
--- a/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py
+++ b/pyiceberg/catalog/sql.py
@@ -497,10 +497,16 @@ def commit_table(
     def _namespace_exists(self, identifier: Union[str, Identifier]) -> bool:
         namespace_tuple = Catalog.identifier_to_tuple(identifier)
         namespace = Catalog.namespace_to_string(namespace_tuple, NoSuchNamespaceError)
+        namespace_starts_with = namespace.replace("!", "!!").replace("_", "!_").replace("%", "!%") + ".%"
+
         with Session(self.engine) as session:
             stmt = (
                 select(IcebergTables)
-                .where(IcebergTables.catalog_name == self.name, IcebergTables.table_namespace == namespace)
+                .where(
+                    IcebergTables.catalog_name == self.name,
+                    (IcebergTables.table_namespace == namespace)
+                    | (IcebergTables.table_namespace.like(namespace_starts_with, escape="!")),
+                )
                 .limit(1)
             )
             result = session.execute(stmt).all()
@@ -510,7 +516,8 @@ def _namespace_exists(self, identifier: Union[str, Identifier]) -> bool:
                 select(IcebergNamespaceProperties)
                 .where(
                     IcebergNamespaceProperties.catalog_name == self.name,
-                    IcebergNamespaceProperties.namespace == namespace,
+                    (IcebergNamespaceProperties.namespace == namespace)
+                    | (IcebergNamespaceProperties.namespace.like(namespace_starts_with, escape="!")),
                 )
                 .limit(1)
             )
diff --git a/tests/catalog/test_sql.py b/tests/catalog/test_sql.py
index d2800363a6..33a76f7308 100644
--- a/tests/catalog/test_sql.py
+++ b/tests/catalog/test_sql.py
@@ -1110,6 +1110,24 @@ def test_create_namespace_with_empty_identifier(catalog: SqlCatalog, empty_names
         catalog.create_namespace(empty_namespace)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "catalog",
+    [
+        lazy_fixture("catalog_memory"),
+        lazy_fixture("catalog_sqlite"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_namespace_exists(catalog: SqlCatalog) -> None:
+    for ns in [("db1",), ("db1", "ns1"), ("db2", "ns1"), ("db3", "ns1", "ns2")]:
+        catalog.create_namespace(ns)
+        assert catalog._namespace_exists(ns)
+
+    assert catalog._namespace_exists("db2")  # `db2` exists because `db2.ns1` exists
+    assert catalog._namespace_exists("db3.ns1")  # `db3.ns1` exists because `db3.ns1.ns2` exists
+    assert not catalog._namespace_exists("db_")  # make sure '_' is escaped in the query
+    assert not catalog._namespace_exists("db%")  # make sure '%' is escaped in the query
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "catalog",
     [