diff --git a/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctions.php b/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctions.php
index 07944d46489..ad56afc4130 100644
--- a/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctions.php
+++ b/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctions.php
@@ -337,8 +337,8 @@ class CoreParserFunctions {
 		// default
 		$gender = User::getDefaultOption( 'gender' );
 
-		// allow prefix.
-		$title = Title::newFromText( $username );
+		// allow prefix and normalize (e.g. "*foo" -> "*foo" ).
+		$title = Title::newFromText( $username, NS_USER );
 
 		if ( $title && $title->inNamespace( NS_USER ) ) {
 			$username = $title->getText();
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctionsTest.php b/tests/phpunit/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctionsTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c630447751d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/phpunit/includes/parser/CoreParserFunctionsTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @group Database
+ * @covers CoreParserFunctions
+ */
+class CoreParserFunctionsTest extends MediaWikiTestCase {
+
+	public function testGender() {
+		$user = User::createNew( '*Female' );
+		$user->setOption( 'gender', 'female' );
+		$user->saveSettings();
+
+		$msg = ( new RawMessage( '{{GENDER:*Female|m|f|o}}' ) )->parse();
+		$this->assertEquals( $msg, 'f', 'Works unescaped' );
+		$escapedName = wfEscapeWikiText( '*Female' );
+		$msg2 = ( new RawMessage( '{{GENDER:' . $escapedName . '|m|f|o}}' ) )
+			->parse();
+		$this->assertEquals( $msg, 'f', 'Works escaped' );
+	}
+
+}