diff --git a/sandbox/grist/identifiers.py b/sandbox/grist/identifiers.py
index f4696598..e4b847f0 100644
--- a/sandbox/grist/identifiers.py
+++ b/sandbox/grist/identifiers.py
@@ -1,11 +1,17 @@
+# coding=utf-8
 """
 A module for creating and sanitizing identifiers
 """
-import re
-from string import ascii_uppercase
 import itertools
+import re
+import unicodedata
 from keyword import iskeyword
+from string import ascii_uppercase
+
+import six
+
 import logger
+
 log = logger.Logger(__name__, logger.INFO)
 
 _invalid_ident_char_re = re.compile(r'[^a-zA-Z0-9_]+')
@@ -20,7 +26,16 @@ def _sanitize_ident(ident, prefix="c", capitalize=False):
   Returns empty string if there are no valid identifier characters, so consider using as
   (_sanitize_ident(...) or "your_default").
   """
-  ident = "" if ident is None else str(ident)
+  ident = u"" if ident is None else six.text_type(ident)
+
+  # https://stackoverflow.com/a/517974/2482744
+  # Separate out combining characters (e.g. accents)
+  ident = unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', ident)
+  # then remove them completely
+  # This means that 'é' becomes 'e' instead of '_' or 'e_'
+  ident = "".join(c for c in ident if not unicodedata.combining(c))
+
+  # TODO allow non-ascii characters in identifiers when using Python 3
   ident = _invalid_ident_char_re.sub('_', ident).lstrip('_')
   ident = _invalid_ident_start_re.sub(prefix, ident)
   if not ident:
diff --git a/sandbox/grist/test_gencode.py b/sandbox/grist/test_gencode.py
index c73b76f1..3c9795c5 100644
--- a/sandbox/grist/test_gencode.py
+++ b/sandbox/grist/test_gencode.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# coding=utf-8
+
 import unittest
 import difflib
 import re
@@ -6,7 +8,6 @@ from six.moves import xrange
 
 import gencode
 import identifiers
-import records
 import schema
 import table
 import testutil
@@ -83,6 +84,48 @@ class TestGenCode(unittest.TestCase):
     module = gcode.usercode
     self.assertTrue(isinstance(module.Students, table.UserTable))
 
+  def test_ident_combining_chars(self):
+    def check(label, ident):
+      self.assertEqual(ident, identifiers.pick_table_ident(label))
+      self.assertEqual(ident, identifiers.pick_col_ident(label))
+      self.assertEqual(ident.lower(), identifiers.pick_col_ident(label.lower()))
+
+    # Actual example table name from a user
+    # unicodedata.normalize can separate accents but doesn't help with Đ
+    check(
+      u"Bảng_Đặc_Thù",
+      u"Bang__ac_Thu",
+    )
+
+    check(
+      u"Noëlle",
+      u"Noelle",
+    )
+    check(
+      u"Séamus",
+      u"Seamus",
+    )
+    check(
+      u"Hélène",
+      u"Helene",
+    )
+    check(
+      u"Dilâçar",
+      u"Dilacar",
+    )
+    check(
+      u"Erdoğan",
+      u"Erdogan",
+    )
+    check(
+      u"Ñwalme",
+      u"Nwalme",
+    )
+    check(
+      u"Árvíztűrő tükörfúrógép",
+      u"Arvizturo_tukorfurogep",
+    )
+
   def test_pick_col_ident(self):
     self.assertEqual(identifiers.pick_col_ident("asdf"), "asdf")
     self.assertEqual(identifiers.pick_col_ident(" a s==d!~@#$%^f"), "a_s_d_f")