diff --git a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml.go b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml.go
index ab853c61a430d..decb2bec65047 100644
--- a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml.go
+++ b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml.go
@@ -181,7 +181,6 @@ type Decoder struct {
 	ns        map[string]string
 	err       error
 	line      int
-	tmp       [32]byte
 }
 
 // NewDecoder creates a new XML parser reading from r.
@@ -877,92 +876,92 @@ Input:
 			// XML in all its glory allows a document to define and use
 			// its own character names with <!ENTITY ...> directives.
 			// Parsers are required to recognize lt, gt, amp, apos, and quot
-			// even if they have not been declared.  That's all we allow.
-			var i int
-			var semicolon bool
-			var valid bool
-			for i = 0; i < len(d.tmp); i++ {
-				var ok bool
-				d.tmp[i], ok = d.getc()
-				if !ok {
-					if d.err == io.EOF {
-						d.err = d.syntaxError("unexpected EOF")
-					}
+			// even if they have not been declared.
+			before := d.buf.Len()
+			d.buf.WriteByte('&')
+			var ok bool
+			var text string
+			var haveText bool
+			if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
+				return nil
+			}
+			if b == '#' {
+				d.buf.WriteByte(b)
+				if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
 					return nil
 				}
-				c := d.tmp[i]
-				if c == ';' {
-					semicolon = true
-					valid = i > 0
-					break
-				}
-				if 'a' <= c && c <= 'z' ||
-					'A' <= c && c <= 'Z' ||
-					'0' <= c && c <= '9' ||
-					c == '_' || c == '#' {
-					continue
-				}
-				d.ungetc(c)
-				break
-			}
-			s := string(d.tmp[0:i])
-			if !valid {
-				if !d.Strict {
-					b0, b1 = 0, 0
-					d.buf.WriteByte('&')
-					d.buf.Write(d.tmp[0:i])
-					if semicolon {
-						d.buf.WriteByte(';')
+				base := 10
+				if b == 'x' {
+					base = 16
+					d.buf.WriteByte(b)
+					if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
+						return nil
 					}
-					continue Input
 				}
-				semi := ";"
-				if !semicolon {
-					semi = " (no semicolon)"
+				start := d.buf.Len()
+				for '0' <= b && b <= '9' ||
+					base == 16 && 'a' <= b && b <= 'f' ||
+					base == 16 && 'A' <= b && b <= 'F' {
+					d.buf.WriteByte(b)
+					if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
+						return nil
+					}
 				}
-				if i < len(d.tmp) {
-					d.err = d.syntaxError("invalid character entity &" + s + semi)
+				if b != ';' {
+					d.ungetc(b)
 				} else {
-					d.err = d.syntaxError("invalid character entity &" + s + "... too long")
-				}
-				return nil
-			}
-			var haveText bool
-			var text string
-			if i >= 2 && s[0] == '#' {
-				var n uint64
-				var err error
-				if i >= 3 && s[1] == 'x' {
-					n, err = strconv.ParseUint(s[2:], 16, 64)
-				} else {
-					n, err = strconv.ParseUint(s[1:], 10, 64)
-				}
-				if err == nil && n <= unicode.MaxRune {
-					text = string(n)
-					haveText = true
+					s := string(d.buf.Bytes()[start:])
+					d.buf.WriteByte(';')
+					n, err := strconv.ParseUint(s, base, 64)
+					if err == nil && n <= unicode.MaxRune {
+						text = string(n)
+						haveText = true
+					}
 				}
 			} else {
-				if r, ok := entity[s]; ok {
-					text = string(r)
-					haveText = true
-				} else if d.Entity != nil {
-					text, haveText = d.Entity[s]
+				d.ungetc(b)
+				if !d.readName() {
+					if d.err != nil {
+						return nil
+					}
+					ok = false
 				}
-			}
-			if !haveText {
-				if !d.Strict {
-					b0, b1 = 0, 0
-					d.buf.WriteByte('&')
-					d.buf.Write(d.tmp[0:i])
+				if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
+					return nil
+				}
+				if b != ';' {
+					d.ungetc(b)
+				} else {
+					name := d.buf.Bytes()[before+1:]
 					d.buf.WriteByte(';')
-					continue Input
+					if isName(name) {
+						s := string(name)
+						if r, ok := entity[s]; ok {
+							text = string(r)
+							haveText = true
+						} else if d.Entity != nil {
+							text, haveText = d.Entity[s]
+						}
+					}
 				}
-				d.err = d.syntaxError("invalid character entity &" + s + ";")
-				return nil
 			}
-			d.buf.Write([]byte(text))
-			b0, b1 = 0, 0
-			continue Input
+
+			if haveText {
+				d.buf.Truncate(before)
+				d.buf.Write([]byte(text))
+				b0, b1 = 0, 0
+				continue Input
+			}
+			if !d.Strict {
+				b0, b1 = 0, 0
+				continue Input
+			}
+			ent := string(d.buf.Bytes()[before])
+			if ent[len(ent)-1] != ';' {
+				ent += " (no semicolon)"
+			}
+			d.err = d.syntaxError("invalid character entity " + ent)
+			return nil
 		}
 
 		// We must rewrite unescaped \r and \r\n into \n.
@@ -1030,18 +1029,34 @@ func (d *Decoder) nsname() (name Name, ok bool) {
 // Do not set d.err if the name is missing (unless unexpected EOF is received):
 // let the caller provide better context.
 func (d *Decoder) name() (s string, ok bool) {
+	d.buf.Reset()
+	if !d.readName() {
+		return "", false
+	}
+
+	// Now we check the characters.
+	s = d.buf.String()
+	if !isName([]byte(s)) {
+		d.err = d.syntaxError("invalid XML name: " + s)
+		return "", false
+	}
+	return s, true
+}
+
+// Read a name and append its bytes to d.buf.
+// The name is delimited by any single-byte character not valid in names.
+// All multi-byte characters are accepted; the caller must check their validity.
+func (d *Decoder) readName() (ok bool) {
 	var b byte
 	if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
 		return
 	}
-
-	// As a first approximation, we gather the bytes [A-Za-z_:.-\x80-\xFF]*
 	if b < utf8.RuneSelf && !isNameByte(b) {
 		d.ungetc(b)
-		return "", false
+		return false
 	}
-	d.buf.Reset()
 	d.buf.WriteByte(b)
+
 	for {
 		if b, ok = d.mustgetc(); !ok {
 			return
@@ -1052,16 +1067,7 @@ func (d *Decoder) name() (s string, ok bool) {
 		}
 		d.buf.WriteByte(b)
 	}
-
-	// Then we check the characters.
-	s = d.buf.String()
-	for i, c := range s {
-		if !unicode.Is(first, c) && (i == 0 || !unicode.Is(second, c)) {
-			d.err = d.syntaxError("invalid XML name: " + s)
-			return "", false
-		}
-	}
-	return s, true
+	return true
 }
 
 func isNameByte(c byte) bool {
@@ -1071,6 +1077,30 @@ func isNameByte(c byte) bool {
 		c == '_' || c == ':' || c == '.' || c == '-'
 }
 
+func isName(s []byte) bool {
+	if len(s) == 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+	c, n := utf8.DecodeRune(s)
+	if c == utf8.RuneError && n == 1 {
+		return false
+	}
+	if !unicode.Is(first, c) {
+		return false
+	}
+	for n < len(s) {
+		s = s[n:]
+		c, n = utf8.DecodeRune(s)
+		if c == utf8.RuneError && n == 1 {
+			return false
+		}
+		if !unicode.Is(first, c) && !unicode.Is(second, c) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
 // These tables were generated by cut and paste from Appendix B of
 // the XML spec at http://www.xml.com/axml/testaxml.htm
 // and then reformatting.  First corresponds to (Letter | '_' | ':')
diff --git a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go
index 2ad4d4af5df59..981d3520313d1 100644
--- a/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/encoding/xml/xml_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ const testInput = `
 <body xmlns:foo="ns1" xmlns="ns2" xmlns:tag="ns3" ` +
 	"\r\n\t" + `  >
   <hello lang="en">World &lt;&gt;&apos;&quot; &#x767d;&#40300;翔</hello>
+  <query>&何; &is-it;</query>
   <goodbye />
   <outer foo:attr="value" xmlns:tag="ns4">
     <inner/>
@@ -28,6 +29,8 @@ const testInput = `
   </tag:name>
 </body><!-- missing final newline -->`
 
+var testEntity = map[string]string{"何": "What", "is-it": "is it?"}
+
 var rawTokens = []Token{
 	CharData("\n"),
 	ProcInst{"xml", []byte(`version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"`)},
@@ -41,6 +44,10 @@ var rawTokens = []Token{
 	CharData("World <>'\" 白鵬翔"),
 	EndElement{Name{"", "hello"}},
 	CharData("\n  "),
+	StartElement{Name{"", "query"}, []Attr{}},
+	CharData("What is it?"),
+	EndElement{Name{"", "query"}},
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "goodbye"}, []Attr{}},
 	EndElement{Name{"", "goodbye"}},
 	CharData("\n  "),
@@ -74,6 +81,10 @@ var cookedTokens = []Token{
 	CharData("World <>'\" 白鵬翔"),
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "hello"}},
 	CharData("\n  "),
+	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "query"}, []Attr{}},
+	CharData("What is it?"),
+	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "query"}},
+	CharData("\n  "),
 	StartElement{Name{"ns2", "goodbye"}, []Attr{}},
 	EndElement{Name{"ns2", "goodbye"}},
 	CharData("\n  "),
@@ -156,6 +167,7 @@ var xmlInput = []string{
 
 func TestRawToken(t *testing.T) {
 	d := NewDecoder(strings.NewReader(testInput))
+	d.Entity = testEntity
 	testRawToken(t, d, rawTokens)
 }
 
@@ -164,8 +176,14 @@ const nonStrictInput = `
 <tag>&unknown;entity</tag>
 <tag>&#123</tag>
 <tag>&#zzz;</tag>
+<tag>&なまえ3;</tag>
+<tag>&lt-gt;</tag>
+<tag>&;</tag>
+<tag>&0a;</tag>
 `
 
+var nonStringEntity = map[string]string{"": "oops!", "0a": "oops!"}
+
 var nonStrictTokens = []Token{
 	CharData("\n"),
 	StartElement{Name{"", "tag"}, []Attr{}},
@@ -184,6 +202,22 @@ var nonStrictTokens = []Token{
 	CharData("&#zzz;"),
 	EndElement{Name{"", "tag"}},
 	CharData("\n"),
+	StartElement{Name{"", "tag"}, []Attr{}},
+	CharData("&なまえ3;"),
+	EndElement{Name{"", "tag"}},
+	CharData("\n"),
+	StartElement{Name{"", "tag"}, []Attr{}},
+	CharData("&lt-gt;"),
+	EndElement{Name{"", "tag"}},
+	CharData("\n"),
+	StartElement{Name{"", "tag"}, []Attr{}},
+	CharData("&;"),
+	EndElement{Name{"", "tag"}},
+	CharData("\n"),
+	StartElement{Name{"", "tag"}, []Attr{}},
+	CharData("&0a;"),
+	EndElement{Name{"", "tag"}},
+	CharData("\n"),
 }
 
 func TestNonStrictRawToken(t *testing.T) {
@@ -317,6 +351,7 @@ func TestNestedDirectives(t *testing.T) {
 
 func TestToken(t *testing.T) {
 	d := NewDecoder(strings.NewReader(testInput))
+	d.Entity = testEntity
 
 	for i, want := range cookedTokens {
 		have, err := d.Token()