diff --git a/msgpack/_unpacker.pyx b/msgpack/_unpacker.pyx
index 3727f50c..0935d15a 100644
--- a/msgpack/_unpacker.pyx
+++ b/msgpack/_unpacker.pyx
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ cdef extern from "unpack.h":
         Py_ssize_t max_array_len
         Py_ssize_t max_map_len
         Py_ssize_t max_ext_len
+        PyObject* memo
 
     ctypedef struct unpack_context:
         msgpack_user user
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ cdef inline init_ctx(unpack_context *ctx,
                      const char* encoding, const char* unicode_errors,
                      Py_ssize_t max_str_len, Py_ssize_t max_bin_len,
                      Py_ssize_t max_array_len, Py_ssize_t max_map_len,
-                     Py_ssize_t max_ext_len):
+                     Py_ssize_t max_ext_len, object d):
     unpack_init(ctx)
     ctx.user.use_list = use_list
     ctx.user.raw = raw
@@ -101,6 +102,9 @@ cdef inline init_ctx(unpack_context *ctx,
 
     ctx.user.encoding = encoding
     ctx.user.unicode_errors = unicode_errors
+    Py_INCREF(d)
+    ctx.user.memo = <PyObject*>d
+
 
 def default_read_extended_type(typecode, data):
     raise NotImplementedError("Cannot decode extended type with typecode=%d" % typecode)
@@ -195,9 +199,10 @@ def unpackb(object packed, object object_hook=None, object list_hook=None,
         max_ext_len = buf_len
 
     try:
+        memo = {}
         init_ctx(&ctx, object_hook, object_pairs_hook, list_hook, ext_hook,
                  use_list, raw, strict_map_key, cenc, cerr,
-                 max_str_len, max_bin_len, max_array_len, max_map_len, max_ext_len)
+                 max_str_len, max_bin_len, max_array_len, max_map_len, max_ext_len, memo)
         ret = unpack_construct(&ctx, buf, buf_len, &off)
     finally:
         if new_protocol:
@@ -404,7 +409,7 @@ cdef class Unpacker(object):
         init_ctx(&self.ctx, object_hook, object_pairs_hook, list_hook,
                  ext_hook, use_list, raw, strict_map_key, cenc, cerr,
                  max_str_len, max_bin_len, max_array_len,
-                 max_map_len, max_ext_len)
+                 max_map_len, max_ext_len, {})
 
     def feed(self, object next_bytes):
         """Append `next_bytes` to internal buffer."""
diff --git a/msgpack/fallback.py b/msgpack/fallback.py
index 3836e830..127d6c1f 100644
--- a/msgpack/fallback.py
+++ b/msgpack/fallback.py
@@ -321,6 +321,8 @@ def __init__(self, file_like=None, read_size=0, use_list=True, raw=True, strict_
         self._max_ext_len = max_ext_len
         self._stream_offset = 0
 
+        self._memo = {}  # used to memoize keys to reduce memory consumption
+
         if list_hook is not None and not callable(list_hook):
             raise TypeError('`list_hook` is not callable')
         if object_hook is not None and not callable(object_hook):
@@ -654,7 +656,9 @@ def _unpack(self, execute=EX_CONSTRUCT):
                 ret = {}
                 for _ in xrange(n):
                     key = self._unpack(EX_CONSTRUCT)
-                    if self._strict_map_key and type(key) not in (unicode, bytes):
+                    if type(key) in (unicode, bytes):
+                        key = self._memo.setdefault(key, key)
+                    elif self._strict_map_key:
                         raise ValueError("%s is not allowed for map key" % str(type(key)))
                     ret[key] = self._unpack(EX_CONSTRUCT)
                 if self._object_hook is not None:
diff --git a/msgpack/unpack.h b/msgpack/unpack.h
index 85dbbed5..6eba18a0 100644
--- a/msgpack/unpack.h
+++ b/msgpack/unpack.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ typedef struct unpack_user {
     const char *encoding;
     const char *unicode_errors;
     Py_ssize_t max_str_len, max_bin_len, max_array_len, max_map_len, max_ext_len;
+    PyObject *memo;
 } unpack_user;
 
 typedef PyObject* msgpack_unpack_object;
@@ -189,7 +190,22 @@ static inline int unpack_callback_map(unpack_user* u, unsigned int n, msgpack_un
 
 static inline int unpack_callback_map_item(unpack_user* u, unsigned int current, msgpack_unpack_object* c, msgpack_unpack_object k, msgpack_unpack_object v)
 {
-    if (u->strict_map_key && !PyUnicode_CheckExact(k) && !PyBytes_CheckExact(k)) {
+    if (PyUnicode_CheckExact(k) || PyBytes_CheckExact(k)) {
+        PyObject *memokey = PyDict_GetItem(u->memo, k);
+        if (memokey != NULL) {
+            Py_INCREF(memokey);
+            Py_DECREF(k);
+            k = memokey;
+        }
+        else {
+            if (PyDict_SetItem(u->memo, k, k) < 0) {
+                Py_DECREF(k);
+                Py_DECREF(v);
+                return -1;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    else if (u->strict_map_key) {
         PyErr_Format(PyExc_ValueError, "%.100s is not allowed for map key", Py_TYPE(k)->tp_name);
         return -1;
     }
diff --git a/msgpack/unpack_template.h b/msgpack/unpack_template.h
index 9924b9c6..398df42f 100644
--- a/msgpack/unpack_template.h
+++ b/msgpack/unpack_template.h
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ static inline PyObject* unpack_data(unpack_context* ctx)
 static inline void unpack_clear(unpack_context *ctx)
 {
     Py_CLEAR(ctx->stack[0].obj);
+    Py_CLEAR(ctx->user.memo);
 }
 
 template <bool construct>
diff --git a/test/test_unpack.py b/test/test_unpack.py
index 00a10612..dbaa3240 100644
--- a/test/test_unpack.py
+++ b/test/test_unpack.py
@@ -65,6 +65,15 @@ def _hook(self, code, data):
     assert unpacker.unpack() == {'a': ExtType(2, b'321')}
 
 
+def test_unpacker_shares_stringly_keys():
+    f = BytesIO(packb([{" a  ?!": 1}, {" a  ?!": 2}]))
+    unpacker = Unpacker(f)
+    d1, d2 = unpacker.unpack()
+    key1, = d1
+    key2, = d2
+    assert key1 is key2
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     test_unpack_array_header_from_file()
     test_unpacker_hook_refcnt()