diff --git a/include/gen_utils.h b/include/gen_utils.h
index cf7cddfa9..ca16ebe05 100644
--- a/include/gen_utils.h
+++ b/include/gen_utils.h
@@ -160,3 +160,4 @@ bool Proxy_file_regular(const char *);
 
 int remove_spaces(const char *);
 char *trim_spaces_in_place(char *str);
+char *trim_spaces_and_quotes_in_place(char *str);
diff --git a/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp b/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp
index 3b20f056e..5e481dace 100644
--- a/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp
+++ b/lib/MySQL_Session.cpp
@@ -529,8 +529,9 @@ bool MySQL_Session::handler_special_queries(PtrSize_t *pkt) {
 		l_free(pkt->size,pkt->ptr);
 		return true;
 	}
-	if ( (pkt->size < 25) && (pkt->size > 15) && (strncasecmp((char *)"SET NAMES ",(char *)pkt->ptr+5,10)==0) ) {
-		char *name=strndup((char *)pkt->ptr+15,pkt->size-15);
+	if ( (pkt->size < 35) && (pkt->size > 15) && (strncasecmp((char *)"SET NAMES ",(char *)pkt->ptr+5,10)==0) ) {
+		char *unstripped=strndup((char *)pkt->ptr+15,pkt->size-15);
+		char *name=trim_spaces_and_quotes_in_place(unstripped);
 		const CHARSET_INFO * c = proxysql_find_charset_name(name);
 		client_myds->DSS=STATE_QUERY_SENT_NET;
 		if (!c) {
@@ -549,7 +550,7 @@ bool MySQL_Session::handler_special_queries(PtrSize_t *pkt) {
 		client_myds->DSS=STATE_SLEEP;
 		status=WAITING_CLIENT_DATA;
 		l_free(pkt->size,pkt->ptr);
-		free(name);
+		free(unstripped);
 		return true;
 	}
 
diff --git a/lib/ProxySQL_Admin.cpp b/lib/ProxySQL_Admin.cpp
index bdc1ffa3f..fd09f92c2 100644
--- a/lib/ProxySQL_Admin.cpp
+++ b/lib/ProxySQL_Admin.cpp
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ bool admin_handler_command_set(char *query_no_space, unsigned int query_no_space
 			*ql = strlen(*q) + 1;
 		}
 	}
-	free(var_name);
+	free(untrimmed_var_name);
 	free(var_value);
 	return run_query;
 }
diff --git a/lib/gen_utils.cpp b/lib/gen_utils.cpp
index 770ac5a9b..47e4d5256 100644
--- a/lib/gen_utils.cpp
+++ b/lib/gen_utils.cpp
@@ -60,6 +60,22 @@ char *trim_spaces_in_place(char *str)
 	return str;
 }
 
+
+char *trim_spaces_and_quotes_in_place(char *str) {
+	char *end;
+	// Trim leading space
+	while(isspace(*str) || *str=='\"' || *str=='\'')
+		str++;
+	if(*str == 0)  // All spaces?
+		return str;
+	// Trim trailing space
+	end = str + strlen(str) - 1;
+	while(end > str && (isspace(*end) || *end=='\"' || *end=='\'')) end--;
+	// Write new null terminator
+	*(end+1) = 0;
+	return str;
+}
+
 #define MIN_ARRAY_LEN	8
 #define MIN_ARRAY_DELETE_RATIO	8