diff --git a/gramps2/ChangeLog b/gramps2/ChangeLog
index 9b22d1297..d92f8a946 100644
--- a/gramps2/ChangeLog
+++ b/gramps2/ChangeLog
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@
 	* src/plugins/Check.py (encoding) dont encode a utf-8 string as again,
 	  (cleanup_missing_photos) Use Utils.find_file to fix encoding problems 
 
+	* src/Utils.py (find_folder): new method
+	* src/gramps_main.py: Use Utils.find_file and Utils.find_folder to enable
+	  using unicode names for gramps databases
+
 2005-11-17  Martin Hawlisch  <Martin.Hawlisch@gmx.de>
 	* src/gramps.glade,
 	  src/TipOfDay.py: Add window title
diff --git a/gramps2/src/Utils.py b/gramps2/src/Utils.py
index 544fa62a8..1517cbda7 100644
--- a/gramps2/src/Utils.py
+++ b/gramps2/src/Utils.py
@@ -286,6 +286,29 @@ def find_file( filename):
     # not found
     return ''
 
+def find_folder( filename):
+    # try the filename we got
+    try:
+        fname = filename
+        if os.path.isdir( filename):
+            return( filename)
+    except:
+        pass
+    
+    # Build list of elternate encodings
+    encodings = [sys.getfilesystemencoding(), locale.getpreferredencoding(), 'UTF-8', 'ISO-8859-1']
+    encodings = list(sets.Set(encodings))
+    for enc in encodings:
+        try:
+            fname = filename.encode(enc)
+            if os.path.isdir( fname):
+                return fname
+        except:
+            pass
+
+    # not found
+    return ''
+
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #
 #
diff --git a/gramps2/src/gramps_main.py b/gramps2/src/gramps_main.py
index 989414e3b..53ae11225 100755
--- a/gramps2/src/gramps_main.py
+++ b/gramps2/src/gramps_main.py
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ class Gramps(GrampsDBCallback.GrampsDBCallback):
         self.open_recent.set_submenu(recent_menu)
 
     def recent_callback(self,obj,filename,filetype):
-        if os.path.exists(filename):
+        if Utils.find_file(filename):
             DbPrompter.open_native(self,filename,filetype)
         else:
             ErrorDialog(_('File does not exist'),
@@ -1289,12 +1289,12 @@ class Gramps(GrampsDBCallback.GrampsDBCallback):
         mode = "w"
         filename = os.path.normpath(os.path.abspath(filename))
         
-        if os.path.isdir(filename):
+        if Utils.find_folder(filename):
             ErrorDialog(_('Cannot open database'),
                         _('The selected file is a directory, not '
                           'a file.\nA GRAMPS database must be a file.'))
             return 0
-        elif os.path.exists(filename):
+        elif Utils.find_file(filename):
             if not os.access(filename,os.R_OK):
                 ErrorDialog(_('Cannot open database'),
                             _('You do not have read access to the selected '