diff --git a/test/test_plyvel.py b/test/test_plyvel.py
index 58481f4..f6470d6 100644
--- a/test/test_plyvel.py
+++ b/test/test_plyvel.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import os
 import shutil
 import stat
+import sys
 import tempfile
 
 try:
@@ -20,6 +21,7 @@
     # Python 3
     xrange = range
 
+from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest
 from nose.tools import (
     assert_equal,
     assert_greater_equal,
@@ -97,9 +99,6 @@ def test_open():
         with assert_raises(plyvel.IOError):
             DB(name)
 
-    with tmp_db('úñîçøđê_name') as db:
-        pass
-
     with tmp_db('no_create', create=False) as name:
         with assert_raises(plyvel.Error):
             DB(name, create_if_missing=False)
@@ -134,6 +133,15 @@ def test_open():
            compression='snappy', bloom_filter_bits=10)
 
 
+def test_open_unicode_name():
+    if sys.getfilesystemencoding().lower() != 'utf-8':
+        # XXX: letter casing differs between Python 2 and 3
+        raise SkipTest("Not running with UTF-8 file system encoding")
+
+    with tmp_db('úñîçøđê_name'):
+        pass
+
+
 def test_open_close():
     with tmp_db('open_close', create=False) as name:
         # Create a database with options that result in additional