diff --git a/History.txt b/History.txt
index ab504a7d..a9cb9661 100644
--- a/History.txt
+++ b/History.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
   * Minor Enhancements
     * Add ability to explicitly specify included files (#261)
     * Add --default-mimetype option (#279)
+  * Bug Fixes
+    * Allow some special characters in highlight names
 
 == 0.11.2 / 2011-12-27
   * Bug Fixes
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index 8642c366..ed3a0f70 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -3,14 +3,19 @@ module Jekyll
   class HighlightBlock < Liquid::Block
     include Liquid::StandardFilters
 
-    # We need a language, but the linenos argument is optional.
-    SYNTAX = /(\w+)\s?([\w\s=]+)*/
+    # The regular expression syntax checker. Start with the language specifier.
+    # Follow that by zero or more space separated options that take one of two
+    # forms:
+    #
+    # 1. name
+    # 2. name=value
+    SYNTAX = /^([a-zA-Z0-9.+#-]+)((\s+\w+(=\w+)?)*)$/
 
     def initialize(tag_name, markup, tokens)
       super
-      if markup =~ SYNTAX
+      if markup.strip =~ SYNTAX
         @lang = $1
-        if defined? $2
+        if defined?($2) && $2 != ''
           tmp_options = {}
           $2.split.each do |opt|
             key, value = opt.split('=')
@@ -23,7 +28,7 @@ module Jekyll
             end
             tmp_options[key] = value
           end
-          tmp_options = tmp_options.to_a.collect { |opt| opt.join('=') }
+          tmp_options = tmp_options.to_a.sort.collect { |opt| opt.join('=') }
           # additional options to pass to Albino
           @options = { 'O' => tmp_options.join(',') }
         else
diff --git a/test/test_tags.rb b/test/test_tags.rb
index 50750757..c1e454ed 100644
--- a/test/test_tags.rb
+++ b/test/test_tags.rb
@@ -31,6 +31,41 @@ CONTENT
     create_post(content, override)
   end
 
+  context "language name" do
+    should "match only the required set of chars" do
+      r = Jekyll::HighlightBlock::SYNTAX
+      assert_match r, "ruby"
+      assert_match r, "c#"
+      assert_match r, "xml+cheetah"
+      assert_match r, "x.y"
+      assert_match r, "coffee-script"
+
+      assert_no_match r, "blah^"
+
+      assert_match r, "ruby key=val"
+      assert_match r, "ruby a=b c=d"
+    end
+  end
+
+  context "initialized tag" do
+    should "work" do
+      tag = Jekyll::HighlightBlock.new('highlight', 'ruby ', ["test", "{% endhighlight %}", "\n"])
+      assert_equal({}, tag.instance_variable_get(:@options))
+
+      tag = Jekyll::HighlightBlock.new('highlight', 'ruby linenos ', ["test", "{% endhighlight %}", "\n"])
+      assert_equal({'O' => "linenos=inline"}, tag.instance_variable_get(:@options))
+
+      tag = Jekyll::HighlightBlock.new('highlight', 'ruby linenos=table ', ["test", "{% endhighlight %}", "\n"])
+      assert_equal({'O' => "linenos=table"}, tag.instance_variable_get(:@options))
+
+      tag = Jekyll::HighlightBlock.new('highlight', 'ruby linenos=table nowrap', ["test", "{% endhighlight %}", "\n"])
+      assert_equal({'O' => "linenos=table,nowrap=true"}, tag.instance_variable_get(:@options))
+
+      tag = Jekyll::HighlightBlock.new('highlight', 'ruby linenos=table cssclass=hl', ["test", "{% endhighlight %}", "\n"])
+      assert_equal({'O' => "cssclass=hl,linenos=table"}, tag.instance_variable_get(:@options))
+    end
+  end
+
   context "post content has highlight tag" do
     setup do
       fill_post("test")