diff --git a/astrodbkit2/astrodb.py b/astrodbkit2/astrodb.py
index 2d7561c..2258f26 100644
--- a/astrodbkit2/astrodb.py
+++ b/astrodbkit2/astrodb.py
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ def _handle_format(temp, fmt):
             else:
                 results = AstropyTable(temp)
         elif fmt.lower() == 'pandas':
-            results = pd.DataFrame(temp)
+            results = pd.DataFrame(temp, columns=temp[0].keys())
         else:
             results = temp
 
diff --git a/astrodbkit2/tests/test_astrodb.py b/astrodbkit2/tests/test_astrodb.py
index ee93654..45232ec 100644
--- a/astrodbkit2/tests/test_astrodb.py
+++ b/astrodbkit2/tests/test_astrodb.py
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ def test_search_object(mock_simbad, db):
     t = db.search_object('engu', fuzzy_search=False)
     assert len(t) == 0
 
+    # Test pandas conversion
+    t = db.search_object('engu', fmt='pandas')
+    assert isinstance(t, pd.DataFrame)
+    assert 'source' in t.columns  # check column names
+
     # Search but only consider the Sources.source column
     t = db.search_object('penguin', table_names={'Sources': ['source']})
     assert len(t) == 0