diff --git a/lang/py/.gitignore b/lang/py/.gitignore
index a689956457b..1f829ef8d86 100644
--- a/lang/py/.gitignore
+++ b/lang/py/.gitignore
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 *.egg-info/
+.coverage*
 .eggs/
-build/
-lib/
-userlogs/
+.tox
 avro/HandshakeRequest.avsc
 avro/HandshakeResponse.avsc
 avro/VERSION.txt
 avro/interop.avsc
+avro/test/interop/
 avro/tether/InputProtocol.avpr
 avro/tether/OutputProtocol.avpr
-avro/test/interop/
-.tox
+build/
 dist
+lib/
+userlogs/
diff --git a/lang/py/avro/schema.py b/lang/py/avro/schema.py
index 60b3a28685c..f41852dab1e 100644
--- a/lang/py/avro/schema.py
+++ b/lang/py/avro/schema.py
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@
 # Constants
 #
 
+# The name portion of a fullname, record field names, and enum symbols must:
+# start with [A-Za-z_]
+# subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
+_BASE_NAME_PATTERN = re.compile(r'(?:^|\.)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$')
+
 PRIMITIVE_TYPES = (
   'null',
   'boolean',
@@ -133,6 +138,14 @@ class AvroWarning(UserWarning):
 class IgnoredLogicalType(AvroWarning):
   """Warnings for unknown or invalid logical types."""
 
+
+def validate_basename(basename):
+  """Raise InvalidName if the given basename is not a valid name."""
+  if not _BASE_NAME_PATTERN.search(basename):
+    raise InvalidName("{!s} is not a valid Avro name because it "
+                      "does not match the pattern {!s}".format(
+                        basename, _BASE_NAME_PATTERN.pattern))
+
 #
 # Base Classes
 #
@@ -184,14 +197,11 @@ def to_json(self, names):
     """
     raise Exception("Must be implemented by subclasses.")
 
+
+
 class Name(object):
   """Class to describe Avro name."""
 
-  # The name portion of a fullname, record field names, and enum symbols must:
-  # start with [A-Za-z_]
-  # subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
-  _base_name_pattern = re.compile(r'(?:^|\.)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$')
-
   _full = None
 
   def __init__(self, name_attr, space_attr, default_space):
@@ -222,10 +232,7 @@ def __init__(self, name_attr, space_attr, default_space):
 
   def _validate_fullname(self, fullname):
     for name in fullname.split('.'):
-      if not self._base_name_pattern.search(name):
-        raise InvalidName("{!s} is not a valid Avro name because it "
-                          "does not match the pattern {!s}".format(
-                          name, self._base_name_pattern.pattern))
+      validate_basename(name)
 
   def __eq__(self, other):
     """Equality of names is defined on the fullname and is case-sensitive."""
@@ -540,15 +547,18 @@ def __eq__(self, that):
 
 
 class EnumSchema(NamedSchema):
-  def __init__(self, name, namespace, symbols, names=None, doc=None, other_props=None):
-    # Ensure valid ctor args
-    if not isinstance(symbols, list):
-      fail_msg = 'Enum Schema requires a JSON array for the symbols property.'
-      raise AvroException(fail_msg)
-    elif False in [isinstance(s, basestring) for s in symbols]:
-      fail_msg = 'Enum Schema requires all symbols to be JSON strings.'
-      raise AvroException(fail_msg)
-    elif len(set(symbols)) < len(symbols):
+  def __init__(self, name, namespace, symbols, names=None, doc=None, other_props=None, validate_enum_symbols=True):
+    """
+    @arg validate_enum_symbols: If False, will allow enum symbols that are not valid Avro names.
+    """
+    if validate_enum_symbols:
+      for symbol in symbols:
+        try:
+          validate_basename(symbol)
+        except InvalidName:
+          raise InvalidName("An enum symbol must be a valid schema name.")
+
+    if len(set(symbols)) < len(symbols):
       fail_msg = 'Duplicate symbol: %s' % symbols
       raise AvroException(fail_msg)
 
@@ -557,7 +567,8 @@ def __init__(self, name, namespace, symbols, names=None, doc=None, other_props=N
 
     # Add class members
     self.set_prop('symbols', symbols)
-    if doc is not None: self.set_prop('doc', doc)
+    if doc is not None:
+      self.set_prop('doc', doc)
 
   # read-only properties
   symbols = property(lambda self: self.get_prop('symbols'))
@@ -919,11 +930,12 @@ def make_logical_schema(logical_type, type_, other_props):
     warnings.warn(warning)
   return None
 
-def make_avsc_object(json_data, names=None):
+def make_avsc_object(json_data, names=None, validate_enum_symbols=True):
   """
   Build Avro Schema from data parsed out of JSON string.
 
   @arg names: A Names object (tracks seen names and default space)
+  @arg validate_enum_symbols: If False, will allow enum symbols that are not valid Avro names.
   """
   if names is None:
     names = Names()
@@ -953,7 +965,7 @@ def make_avsc_object(json_data, names=None):
       elif type == 'enum':
         symbols = json_data.get('symbols')
         doc = json_data.get('doc')
-        return EnumSchema(name, namespace, symbols, names, doc, other_props)
+        return EnumSchema(name, namespace, symbols, names, doc, other_props, validate_enum_symbols)
       elif type in ['record', 'error']:
         fields = json_data.get('fields')
         doc = json_data.get('doc')
@@ -990,8 +1002,11 @@ def make_avsc_object(json_data, names=None):
     raise SchemaParseException(fail_msg)
 
 # TODO(hammer): make method for reading from a file?
-def parse(json_string):
-  """Constructs the Schema from the JSON text."""
+def parse(json_string, validate_enum_symbols=True):
+  """Constructs the Schema from the JSON text.
+
+  @arg validate_enum_symbols: If False, will allow enum symbols that are not valid Avro names.
+  """
   # parse the JSON
   try:
     json_data = json.loads(json_string)
@@ -1007,4 +1022,4 @@ def parse(json_string):
   names = Names()
 
   # construct the Avro Schema object
-  return make_avsc_object(json_data, names)
+  return make_avsc_object(json_data, names, validate_enum_symbols)
diff --git a/lang/py/avro/test/test_schema.py b/lang/py/avro/test/test_schema.py
index 8f082032ed0..9fcc0b65f45 100644
--- a/lang/py/avro/test/test_schema.py
+++ b/lang/py/avro/test/test_schema.py
@@ -85,11 +85,13 @@ class InvalidTestSchema(ValidTestSchema):
 
 ENUM_EXAMPLES = [
   ValidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "name": "Test", "symbols": ["A", "B"]}),
+  ValidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "name": "AVRO2174", "symbols": ["nowhitespace"]}),
   InvalidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "name": "Status", "symbols": "Normal Caution Critical"}),
   InvalidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "name": [0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8],
                      "symbols": ["Golden", "Mean"]}),
   InvalidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "symbols" : ["I", "will", "fail", "no", "name"]}),
   InvalidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "name": "Test", "symbols": ["AA", "AA"]}),
+  InvalidTestSchema({"type": "enum", "name": "AVRO2174", "symbols": ["white space"]}),
 ]
 
 ARRAY_EXAMPLES = [
@@ -441,6 +443,26 @@ def test_fixed_decimal_invalid_max_precision(self):
     self.assertIsInstance(fixed_decimal, schema.FixedSchema)
     self.assertNotIsInstance(fixed_decimal, schema.DecimalLogicalSchema)
 
+  def test_parse_invalid_symbol(self):
+    """Disabling enumschema symbol validation should allow invalid symbols to pass."""
+    test_schema_string = json.dumps({
+      "type": "enum", "name": "AVRO2174", "symbols": ["white space"]})
+
+    try:
+      case = schema.parse(test_schema_string, validate_enum_symbols=True)
+    except schema.InvalidName:
+      pass
+    else:
+      self.fail("When enum symbol validation is enabled, "
+                "an invalid symbol should raise InvalidName.")
+
+    try:
+      case = schema.parse(test_schema_string, validate_enum_symbols=False)
+    except schema.InvalidName:
+      self.fail("When enum symbol validation is disabled, "
+                "an invalid symbol should not raise InvalidName.")
+
+
 class SchemaParseTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
   """Enable generating parse test cases over all the valid and invalid example schema."""
 
@@ -479,6 +501,7 @@ def parse_invalid(self):
     else:
       self.fail("Invalid schema should not have parsed: {!s}".format(self.test_schema))
 
+
 class RoundTripParseTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
   """Enable generating round-trip parse test cases over all the valid test schema."""