diff --git a/src/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go b/src/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go
index d2e5137afd7c05..c54db080a8092f 100644
--- a/src/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go
+++ b/src/encoding/xml/marshal_test.go
@@ -2490,3 +2490,34 @@ func TestInvalidXMLName(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("error %q does not contain %q", err, want)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMismatchedTagNames(t *testing.T) {
+	type InnerStruct struct {
+		XMLName Name   `xml:"innerStruct"`
+		Name    string `xml:"name"`
+	}
+
+	type Outer struct {
+		XMLName Name         `xml:"outer"`
+		Inner   *InnerStruct `xml:"inner"`
+	}
+
+	dec := NewDecoder(strings.NewReader(`<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<outer>
+    <inner>
+        <name>foo</name>
+    </inner>
+</outer>"`))
+
+	holder := &Outer{}
+	if err := dec.Decode(holder); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("Unexpected error: %q", err)
+	}
+	if holder == nil {
+		t.Error("Holder should be non-nil")
+	} else if holder.Inner == nil {
+		t.Error("Inner should be non-nil")
+	} else if holder.Inner.Name != "foo" {
+		t.Errorf("Expected name to be %q, but was %q", "foo", holder.Inner.Name)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/encoding/xml/read.go b/src/encoding/xml/read.go
index ef5df3f7f6aecc..20172b812e74a2 100644
--- a/src/encoding/xml/read.go
+++ b/src/encoding/xml/read.go
@@ -423,9 +423,6 @@ func (d *Decoder) unmarshal(val reflect.Value, start *StartElement) error {
 		// Validate and assign element name.
 		if tinfo.xmlname != nil {
 			finfo := tinfo.xmlname
-			if finfo.name != "" && finfo.name != start.Name.Local {
-				return UnmarshalError("expected element type <" + finfo.name + "> but have <" + start.Name.Local + ">")
-			}
 			if finfo.xmlns != "" && finfo.xmlns != start.Name.Space {
 				e := "expected element <" + finfo.name + "> in name space " + finfo.xmlns + " but have "
 				if start.Name.Space == "" {
diff --git a/src/encoding/xml/typeinfo.go b/src/encoding/xml/typeinfo.go
index 162724ef1a58b0..00539470cc331b 100644
--- a/src/encoding/xml/typeinfo.go
+++ b/src/encoding/xml/typeinfo.go
@@ -211,17 +211,6 @@ func structFieldInfo(typ reflect.Type, f *reflect.StructField) (*fieldInfo, erro
 		finfo.parents = parents[:len(parents)-1]
 	}
 
-	// If the field type has an XMLName field, the names must match
-	// so that the behavior of both marshaling and unmarshaling
-	// is straightforward and unambiguous.
-	if finfo.flags&fElement != 0 {
-		ftyp := f.Type
-		xmlname := lookupXMLName(ftyp)
-		if xmlname != nil && xmlname.name != finfo.name {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("xml: name %q in tag of %s.%s conflicts with name %q in %s.XMLName",
-				finfo.name, typ, f.Name, xmlname.name, ftyp)
-		}
-	}
 	return finfo, nil
 }