diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TableName.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TableName.java
index 62668ec7a4db..b659d141f931 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TableName.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TableName.java
@@ -192,14 +192,16 @@ public static void isLegalTableQualifierName(final byte[] qualifierName,
     if(end - start < 1) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException(isSnapshot ? "Snapshot" : "Table" + " qualifier must not be empty");
     }
-    String qualifierString = Bytes.toString(qualifierName, start, end - start);
     if (qualifierName[start] == '.' || qualifierName[start] == '-') {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("Illegal first character <" + qualifierName[start] +
                                          "> at 0. " + (isSnapshot ? "Snapshot" : "User-space table") +
                                          " qualifiers can only start with 'alphanumeric " +
                                          "characters' from any language: " +
-                                         qualifierString);
+                                         Bytes.toString(qualifierName, start, end));
     }
+    // Treat the bytes as UTF-8
+    String qualifierString = new String(
+        qualifierName, start, (end - start), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     if (qualifierString.equals(DISALLOWED_TABLE_NAME)) {
       // Per https://zookeeper.apache.org/doc/r3.4.10/zookeeperProgrammers.html#ch_zkDataModel
       // A znode named "zookeeper" is disallowed by zookeeper.
diff --git a/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestTableName.java b/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestTableName.java
index a908a483db0a..e1cd52adafef 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestTableName.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/TestTableName.java
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public int hashCode() {
 
   @Test public void testIllegalHTableNames() {
     for (String tn : illegalTableNames) {
-      assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+      assertThrows(Exception.class,
         () -> TableName.isLegalFullyQualifiedTableName(Bytes.toBytes(tn)));
     }
   }