diff --git a/lib/gitlab/regex.rb b/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
index 9aeed5e..7d909f6 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/regex.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+encoding: utf-8
+
 module Gitlab
   module Regex
     extend self
@@ -24,12 +26,12 @@ module Gitlab
 
 
     def project_name_regex
-      @project_name_regex ||= /\A[a-zA-Z0-9_.][a-zA-Z0-9_\-\. ]*\z/.freeze
+      @project_name_regex ||= /\A[\p{Word}_.][\p{Word}_\-\. ]*\z/.freeze
     end
 
     def project_name_regex_message
       "can contain only letters, digits, '_', '-', '.' and space. " \
-      "It must start with letter, digit or '_'."
+      "It must start with letter, digit, '.' or '_'."
     end