diff --git a/geoserverexplorer/gui/gsnameutils.py b/geoserverexplorer/gui/gsnameutils.py
index 37bb062..837bb84 100644
--- a/geoserverexplorer/gui/gsnameutils.py
+++ b/geoserverexplorer/gui/gsnameutils.py
@@ -24,8 +24,10 @@
 
 # noinspection PyPep8Naming
 def xmlNameFixUp(name):
-    # TODO: handle bad unicode characters, too
-    n = name.replace(u' ', u'_')  # doesn't hurt to always do this
+    if not isinstance(name, unicode):
+        name = name.decode('utf-8', errors='ignore')
+    n = unicode(unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', name).encode('ascii','ignore'))
+    n = re.sub('[ /\\\\]', '_', n)
     if not xmlNameIsValid(n) and not n.startswith(u'_'):
         rx = QRegExp(r'^(?=XML|\d|\W).*', Qt.CaseInsensitive)
         if rx.exactMatch(n):
diff --git a/geoserverexplorer/qgis/catalog.py b/geoserverexplorer/qgis/catalog.py
index 06069c6..2060513 100644
--- a/geoserverexplorer/qgis/catalog.py
+++ b/geoserverexplorer/qgis/catalog.py
@@ -134,8 +134,9 @@ def publishStyle(self, layer, overwrite = True, name = None):
             layer = layers.resolveLayer(layer)
         sld, icons = getGsCompatibleSld(layer)
         if sld is not None:
-            name = name if name is not None else layer.name()
-            name = name.replace(" ", "_")
+            name = name if name is not None else xmlNameFixUp(layer.name())
+            if layer.name() != name:
+                sld =  sld.replace(layer.name(), name)
             self.uploadIcons(icons)
             self.catalog.create_style(name, sld, overwrite)
         return sld