diff --git a/src/main/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUser.java b/src/main/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUser.java
index 6a68b64a4..0e14205c7 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUser.java
@@ -71,11 +71,13 @@ public LDUser(String key) {
   }
 
   protected JsonElement getValueForEvaluation(String attribute) {
-    try {
-      return UserAttribute.valueOf(attribute).get(this);
-    } catch (IllegalArgumentException expected) {
-      return getCustom(attribute);
+    // Don't use Enum.valueOf because we don't want to trigger unnecessary exceptions
+    for (UserAttribute builtIn: UserAttribute.values()) {
+      if (builtIn.name().equals(attribute)) {
+        return builtIn.get(this);
+      }
     }
+    return getCustom(attribute);
   }
 
   JsonPrimitive getKey() {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUserTest.java b/src/test/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUserTest.java
index 085476034..f80184dce 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUserTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/launchdarkly/client/LDUserTest.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
 import com.google.gson.JsonPrimitive;
 import com.google.gson.reflect.TypeToken;
+
+import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
@@ -198,6 +200,38 @@ public void testLDUserCustomMarshalWithBuiltInAttributesRedactsCorrectAttrs() {
     Type type = new TypeToken<Map<String, JsonElement>>(){}.getType();
     Map<String, JsonElement> privateJson = config.gson.fromJson(config.gson.toJson(user), type);
     assertNull(privateJson.get("email"));
-
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void getValueGetsBuiltInAttribute() {
+    LDUser user = new LDUser.Builder("key")
+        .name("Jane")
+        .build();
+    assertEquals(new JsonPrimitive("Jane"), user.getValueForEvaluation("name"));
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void getValueGetsCustomAttribute() {
+    LDUser user = new LDUser.Builder("key")
+        .custom("height", 5)
+        .build();
+    assertEquals(new JsonPrimitive(5), user.getValueForEvaluation("height"));
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void getValueGetsBuiltInAttributeEvenIfCustomAttrHasSameName() {
+    LDUser user = new LDUser.Builder("key")
+        .name("Jane")
+        .custom("name", "Joan")
+        .build();
+    assertEquals(new JsonPrimitive("Jane"), user.getValueForEvaluation("name"));
+  }
+  
+  @Test
+  public void getValueReturnsNullIfNotFound() {
+    LDUser user = new LDUser.Builder("key")
+        .name("Jane")
+        .build();
+    assertNull(user.getValueForEvaluation("height"));
   }
 }