diff --git a/libraries/String.class.php b/libraries/String.class.php
index 904b0595f1..a5fbe8a0ff 100644
--- a/libraries/String.class.php
+++ b/libraries/String.class.php
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@ class PMA_String
     public function isSqlIdentifier($c, $dot_is_valid = false)
     {
         return ($this->isAlnum($c)
-            || ($ord_c = ord($c)) && $ord_c >= 192 && $ord_c != 215 && $ord_c != 249
+            || ($ord_c = $this->ord($c)) && $ord_c >= 192 && $ord_c != 215 &&
+            $ord_c != 249
             || $c == '_'
             || $c == '$'
             || ($dot_is_valid != false && $c == '.'));
@@ -147,7 +148,19 @@ class PMA_String
         return $this->_byte->strtolower($string);
     }
 
-        /**
+    /**
+     * Get the ordinal value of a string
+     *
+     * @param string $string the string for which ord is required
+     *
+     * @return string the ord value
+     */
+    public function ord($string)
+    {
+        return $this->_byte->ord($string);
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Checks if a character is an alphanumeric one
      *
      * @param string $c character to check for
diff --git a/libraries/StringMB.class.php b/libraries/StringMB.class.php
index 7044d563a3..4db0d5e7cb 100644
--- a/libraries/StringMB.class.php
+++ b/libraries/StringMB.class.php
@@ -72,5 +72,21 @@ class PMA_StringMB implements PMA_StringByte
     {
         return mb_strtolower($string);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the ordinal value of a multibyte string 
+     * (Adapted from http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ord.php#72463)
+     *
+     * @param string $string the string for which ord is required
+     *
+     * @return string the ord value
+     */
+    public function ord($string)
+    {
+        $str = mb_convert_encoding($string, "UCS-4BE", "UTF-8");
+        $substr = mb_substr($str, 0, 1, "UCS-4BE");                    
+        $val = unpack("N", $substr);            
+        return $val[1];        
+    }
 }
 ?>
diff --git a/libraries/StringNative.class.php b/libraries/StringNative.class.php
index dc5976fe5d..b333610a90 100644
--- a/libraries/StringNative.class.php
+++ b/libraries/StringNative.class.php
@@ -71,5 +71,17 @@ class PMA_StringNative implements PMA_StringByte
     {
         return strtolower($string);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the ordinal value of a string
+     *
+     * @param string $string the string for which ord is required
+     *
+     * @return string the ord value
+     */
+    public function ord($string)
+    {
+        return ord($string);
+    }
 };
 ?>
diff --git a/test/libraries/PMA_string_test.php b/test/libraries/PMA_string_test.php
index 2b47263ca0..a6df1897fb 100644
--- a/test/libraries/PMA_string_test.php
+++ b/test/libraries/PMA_string_test.php
@@ -139,9 +139,9 @@ class PMA_String_Test extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
             array(true, 'a'),
             array(true, '.', true),
             array(false, '.'),
-            array(true, chr(192)),
-            array(false, chr(215)),
-            array(false, chr(249)),
+            array(true, 'À'),
+            array(false, '×'),
+            array(false, 'ù'),
             array(true, '_'),
             array(true, '$')
         );