diff --git a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/er/parser/erDiagram.jison b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/er/parser/erDiagram.jison
index 135efc7846..0739702252 100644
--- a/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/er/parser/erDiagram.jison
+++ b/packages/mermaid/src/diagrams/er/parser/erDiagram.jison
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ o\{                             return 'ZERO_OR_MORE';
 "optionally to"                 return 'NON_IDENTIFYING';
 \.\-                            return 'NON_IDENTIFYING';
 \-\.                            return 'NON_IDENTIFYING';
-[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9\-_]*        return 'ALPHANUM';
+[A-Za-z_\u0080-\uFFFF][A-Za-z0-9\-_\u0080-\uFFFF]*   return 'ALPHANUM';
 .                               return yytext[0];
 <<EOF>>                         return 'EOF';
 
@@ -180,4 +180,4 @@ role
     | 'ALPHANUM'  { $$ = $1; }
     ;
 
-%%
+%%
\ No newline at end of file