diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index e7597d2e..99d7d84a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ procps-ng-NEXT
   * top: add config file support for XDG specification
   * pgrep: warn about 15+ char name only if -f not used
   * pkill: Return 0 only if we can kill process            Debian #852758
+  * kill: -l space between name parses correctly           Debian #854407
 
 procps-ng-3.3.12
 ----------------
diff --git a/skill.c b/skill.c
index 36210409..5d233c25 100644
--- a/skill.c
+++ b/skill.c
@@ -422,6 +422,8 @@ static void __attribute__ ((__noreturn__))
 	int loop = 1;
 	long pid;
 	int exitvalue = EXIT_SUCCESS;
+    int optindex;
+    char *sig_option;
 
 	static const struct option longopts[] = {
 		{"list", optional_argument, NULL, 'l'},
@@ -445,17 +447,23 @@ static void __attribute__ ((__noreturn__))
 		signo = SIGTERM;
 
 	opterr=0; /* suppress errors on -123 */
-	while (loop == 1 && (i = getopt_long(argc, argv, "l::Ls:hV", longopts, NULL)) != -1)
+	while (loop == 1 && (i = getopt_long(argc, argv, "l::Ls:hV", longopts, &optindex)) != -1)
 		switch (i) {
 		case 'l':
-			if (optarg) {
+            sig_option = NULL;
+            if (optarg) {
+                sig_option = optarg;
+            } else if (argv[optindex+1] != NULL && argv[optindex+1][0] != '-') {
+                sig_option = argv[optindex+1];
+            }
+			if (sig_option) {
 				char *s;
-				s = strtosig(optarg);
+				s = strtosig(sig_option);
 				if (s)
 					printf("%s\n", s);
 				else
 					xwarnx(_("unknown signal name %s"),
-					      optarg);
+					      sig_option);
 				free(s);
 			} else {
 				unix_print_signals();
diff --git a/testsuite/kill.test/kill.exp b/testsuite/kill.test/kill.exp
index 211395c9..1948517f 100644
--- a/testsuite/kill.test/kill.exp
+++ b/testsuite/kill.test/kill.exp
@@ -20,15 +20,28 @@ set test "kill list signal names in table"
 spawn $kill -L
 expect_pass "$test" "^\(\\s+\\d+ \[A-Z12+-\]+\)+\\s*$"
 
-set test "kill convert signal name to number"
+set test "kill convert signal name to number no space"
 spawn  $kill -lHUP
 expect_pass "$test" "^1\\s*"
 
-set test "kill convert SIG-prefixed signal name to number"
+set test "kill convert signal name to number with space"
+spawn  $kill -l HUP
+expect_pass "$test" "^1\\s*"
+
+set test "kill convert SIG-prefixed signal name to number no space"
 spawn  $kill -lSIGHUP
 expect_pass "$test" "^1\\s*$"
 
-set test "kill convert signal number to name"
+set test "kill convert SIG-prefixed signal name to number with space"
+spawn  $kill -l SIGHUP
+
+expect_pass "$test" "^1\\s*$"
+
+set test "kill convert signal number to name no space"
+spawn  $kill -l1
+expect_pass "$test" "^HUP\\s*"
+
+set test "kill convert signal number to name with space"
 spawn  $kill -l 1
 expect_pass "$test" "^HUP\\s*"