diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index 79bfaac9d..48bdf8432 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ resolve_relative_url ()
 module_list()
 {
 	(
-		git ls-files --error-unmatch --stage -- "$@" ||
+		git ls-files -z --error-unmatch --stage -- "$@" ||
 		echo "unmatched pathspec exists"
 	) |
 	perl -e '
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ module_list()
 	my ($null_sha1) = ("0" x 40);
 	my @out = ();
 	my $unmatched = 0;
+	$/ = "\0";
 	while (<STDIN>) {
 		if (/^unmatched pathspec/) {
 			$unmatched = 1;
diff --git a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
index ff265353a..d5743eeb4 100755
--- a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
@@ -868,4 +868,16 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule deinit fails when submodule has a .git directory
 	test -n "$(git config --get-regexp "submodule\.example\.")"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'submodule with strange name works "å äö"' '
+	mkdir "å äö" &&
+	(
+		cd "å äö" &&
+		git init &&
+		touch sub
+		git add sub
+		git commit -m "init sub"
+	)
+	git submodule add "/å äö" &&
+	test -n "$(git submodule | grep "å äö")"
+'
 test_done