diff --git a/ynr/apps/search/tests/test_search.py b/ynr/apps/search/tests/test_search.py
index 149c42252..7af377f80 100644
--- a/ynr/apps/search/tests/test_search.py
+++ b/ynr/apps/search/tests/test_search.py
@@ -145,3 +145,11 @@ def test_backtick_regression(self):
                 "` ' £$$^*   ($ £%  Henry   " "Jekyll \t"
             ).exists()
         )
+
+    def test_search_person_by_name_with_special_characters(self):
+        name = "Z$^o@&ë%"
+        person = PersonFactory(name=name)
+        person.save()
+        qs = search_person_by_name(name=person.name)
+        self.assertEqual(qs.count(), 1)
+        self.assertEqual(qs.first().name, person.name)
diff --git a/ynr/apps/search/utils.py b/ynr/apps/search/utils.py
index d67ff89f7..ecf2dcadd 100644
--- a/ynr/apps/search/utils.py
+++ b/ynr/apps/search/utils.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 from people.models import Person
 from popolo.models import Membership
 
+import unicodedata
+
 
 def search_person_by_name(name: str, synonym: bool = False) -> PersonQuerySet:
     """
@@ -22,6 +24,11 @@ def search_person_by_name(name: str, synonym: bool = False) -> PersonQuerySet:
     see the comment in line about a workaround for a performance bug.
 
     """
+    name = (
+        unicodedata.normalize("NFKD", name)
+        .encode("ascii", "ignore")
+        .decode("ascii")
+    )
     name = name.lower()
     name = re.sub(r"[^a-z ]", " ", name)
     name = " ".join(name.strip().split())