diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index b299bd0ff23006c7b4379ff0ff425dfea858b2f6..a908a29b5f4b6ebf8a6ef1f7bf587dfa120b1997 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -27,3 +27,6 @@
 [submodule "src/ext/lodepng"]
 	path = src/ext/lodepng
 	url = https://github.com/lvandeve/lodepng.git
+[submodule "src/ext/utf8proc"]
+	path = src/ext/utf8proc
+	url = https://github.com/JuliaStrings/utf8proc.git
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4465ed1c548f424c88a4c195523ea384d1d1206c..1619858f81aa7413c1eb47052444f4a915bb694d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ check_ext ("filesystem" "filesystem/filesystem" c5f9de30142453eb3c6fe991e82dfc25
 check_ext ("libdeflate" "libdeflate/common" 1fd0bea6ca2073c68493632dafc4b1ddda1bcbc3)
 check_ext ("lodepng" "lodepng/examples" 8c6a9e30576f07bf470ad6f09458a2dcd7a6a84a)
 check_ext ("stb" "stb/tools" af1a5bc352164740c1cc1354942b1c6b72eacb8a)
+check_ext ("utf8proc" "utf8proc/bench" 2484e2ed5e1d9c19edcccf392a7d9920ad90dfaf)
 check_ext ("zlib" "zlib/doc" 54d591eabf9fe0e84c725638f8d5d8d202a093fa)
 
 add_compile_definitions ("$<$<CONFIG:DEBUG>:PBRT_DEBUG_BUILD>")
@@ -861,6 +862,7 @@ set (ALL_PBRT_LIBS
   ${LIBDEFLATE_LIBRARIES}
   double-conversion
   ${PBRT_CUDA_LIB}
+  utf8proc
 )
 
 if (PBRT_CUDA_ENABLED)
@@ -1024,6 +1026,7 @@ set (PBRT_TEST_SOURCE
   src/pbrt/util/sampling_test.cpp
   src/pbrt/util/spectrum_test.cpp
   src/pbrt/util/splines_test.cpp
+  src/pbrt/util/string_test.cpp
   src/pbrt/util/taggedptr_test.cpp
   src/pbrt/util/transform_test.cpp
   src/pbrt/util/vecmath_test.cpp
diff --git a/src/ext/CMakeLists.txt b/src/ext/CMakeLists.txt
index d7f47f673effee9387565e53f8bc8c4c864bbcd7..3968d18f3cc05fa8f0d7db8be130e9e8654653e9 100644
--- a/src/ext/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/ext/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -139,3 +139,10 @@ set (FLIP_INCLUDE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/flip PARENT_SCOPE)
 add_library (flip_lib STATIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/flip/flip.cpp)
 
 set_property (TARGET flip_lib PROPERTY FOLDER "ext")
+
+###########################################################################
+# utf8proc
+
+set (UTF8PROC_INCLUDE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/utf8proc PARENT_SCOPE)
+
+add_subdirectory (utf8proc)
diff --git a/src/ext/utf8proc b/src/ext/utf8proc
new file mode 160000
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2484e2ed5e1d9c19edcccf392a7d9920ad90dfaf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ext/utf8proc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 2484e2ed5e1d9c19edcccf392a7d9920ad90dfaf
diff --git a/src/pbrt/scene.cpp b/src/pbrt/scene.cpp
index 8f99579bc03200e8f64d5dd290178ced1824f7d9..91ec02642ac89f20892f96a78432e1800217a739 100644
--- a/src/pbrt/scene.cpp
+++ b/src/pbrt/scene.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <pbrt/util/parallel.h>
 #include <pbrt/util/print.h>
 #include <pbrt/util/spectrum.h>
+#include <pbrt/util/string.h>
 #include <pbrt/util/transform.h>
 
 #include <iostream>
@@ -122,11 +123,13 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::Translate(Float dx, Float dy, Float dz, FileLoc loc) {
         [=](auto t) { return t * pbrt::Translate(Vector3f(dx, dy, dz)); });
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::CoordinateSystem(const std::string &name, FileLoc loc) {
+void BasicSceneBuilder::CoordinateSystem(const std::string &origName, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     namedCoordinateSystems[name] = graphicsState.ctm;
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::CoordSysTransform(const std::string &name, FileLoc loc) {
+void BasicSceneBuilder::CoordSysTransform(const std::string &origName, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     if (namedCoordinateSystems.find(name) != namedCoordinateSystems.end())
         graphicsState.ctm = namedCoordinateSystems[name];
     else
@@ -230,8 +233,9 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::WorldBegin(FileLoc loc) {
     scene->SetOptions(filter, film, camera, sampler, integrator, accelerator);
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::MakeNamedMedium(const std::string &name,
+void BasicSceneBuilder::MakeNamedMedium(const std::string &origName,
                                         ParsedParameterVector params, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     // Issue error if medium _name_ is multiply defined
     if (mediumNames.find(name) != mediumNames.end()) {
         ErrorExitDeferred(&loc, "Named medium \"%s\" redefined.", name);
@@ -302,7 +306,9 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::Shape(const std::string &name, ParsedParameterVector par
     }
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::ObjectBegin(const std::string &name, FileLoc loc) {
+void BasicSceneBuilder::ObjectBegin(const std::string &origName, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
+
     VERIFY_WORLD("ObjectBegin");
     pushedGraphicsStates.push_back(graphicsState);
 
@@ -356,7 +362,8 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::ObjectEnd(FileLoc loc) {
     activeInstanceDefinition = nullptr;
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::ObjectInstance(const std::string &name, FileLoc loc) {
+void BasicSceneBuilder::ObjectInstance(const std::string &origName, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     VERIFY_WORLD("ObjectInstance");
 
     if (activeInstanceDefinition) {
@@ -643,15 +650,19 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::Integrator(const std::string &name, ParsedParameterVecto
     integrator = SceneEntity(name, std::move(dict), loc);
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::MediumInterface(const std::string &insideName,
-                                        const std::string &outsideName, FileLoc loc) {
+void BasicSceneBuilder::MediumInterface(const std::string &origInsideName,
+                                        const std::string &origOutsideName, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string insideName = NormalizeUTF8(origInsideName);
+    std::string outsideName = NormalizeUTF8(origOutsideName);
+
     graphicsState.currentInsideMedium = insideName;
     graphicsState.currentOutsideMedium = outsideName;
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::Texture(const std::string &name, const std::string &type,
+void BasicSceneBuilder::Texture(const std::string &origName, const std::string &type,
                                 const std::string &texname, ParsedParameterVector params,
                                 FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     VERIFY_WORLD("Texture");
 
     ParameterDictionary dict(std::move(params), graphicsState.textureAttributes,
@@ -691,8 +702,9 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::Material(const std::string &name, ParsedParameterVector
     graphicsState.currentMaterialName.clear();
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::MakeNamedMaterial(const std::string &name,
+void BasicSceneBuilder::MakeNamedMaterial(const std::string &origName,
                                           ParsedParameterVector params, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     VERIFY_WORLD("MakeNamedMaterial");
 
     ParameterDictionary dict(std::move(params), graphicsState.materialAttributes,
@@ -707,7 +719,8 @@ void BasicSceneBuilder::MakeNamedMaterial(const std::string &name,
     scene->AddNamedMaterial(name, SceneEntity("", std::move(dict), loc));
 }
 
-void BasicSceneBuilder::NamedMaterial(const std::string &name, FileLoc loc) {
+void BasicSceneBuilder::NamedMaterial(const std::string &origName, FileLoc loc) {
+    std::string name = NormalizeUTF8(origName);
     VERIFY_WORLD("NamedMaterial");
     graphicsState.currentMaterialName = name;
     graphicsState.currentMaterialIndex = -1;
diff --git a/src/pbrt/util/string.cpp b/src/pbrt/util/string.cpp
index 4d108759542b01e755e3a2c8e8bcff35ecc66bce..6a24862973d6bd8be7eb572e75756ab8853fd52d 100644
--- a/src/pbrt/util/string.cpp
+++ b/src/pbrt/util/string.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@
 #include <pbrt/util/string.h>
 
 #include <pbrt/util/check.h>
+#include <pbrt/util/error.h>
+
+#define UTF8PROC_STATIC
+#include <utf8proc/utf8proc.h>
 
 #include <ctype.h>
 #include <codecvt>
@@ -185,4 +189,18 @@ std::u16string UTF16FromUTF8(std::string str) {
     return utf16;
 }
 
+std::string NormalizeUTF8(std::string str) {
+    utf8proc_option_t options = UTF8PROC_COMPOSE;
+
+    utf8proc_uint8_t *result;
+    utf8proc_ssize_t length = utf8proc_map((const unsigned char *)str.data(), str.size(),
+                                           &result, options);
+    if (length < 0)
+        ErrorExit("Unicode normalization error: %s: \"%s\"", utf8proc_errmsg(length), str);
+
+    str = std::string(result, result + length);
+    free(result);
+    return str;
+}
+
 }  // namespace pbrt
diff --git a/src/pbrt/util/string.h b/src/pbrt/util/string.h
index 8db24f285e1521454c31af480ff21e8c3748230e..319e80ece2cba93a1ed9607b2c1aabec0a3722c0 100644
--- a/src/pbrt/util/string.h
+++ b/src/pbrt/util/string.h
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ std::wstring WStringFromUTF8(std::string str);
 std::string UTF8FromWString(std::wstring str);
 #endif  // PBRT_IS_WINDOWS
 
+std::string NormalizeUTF8(std::string str);
+
 // InternedString Definition
 class InternedString {
   public:
diff --git a/src/pbrt/util/string_test.cpp b/src/pbrt/util/string_test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..11fc0ccd8d3d2ad13d287105de60f6717c9c6f5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/pbrt/util/string_test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+// pbrt is Copyright(c) 1998-2020 Matt Pharr, Wenzel Jakob, and Greg Humphreys.
+// The pbrt source code is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.
+// SPDX: Apache-2.0
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+#include <pbrt/pbrt.h>
+#include <pbrt/util/string.h>
+
+#include <string>
+
+using namespace pbrt;
+
+TEST(Unicode, BasicNormalization) {
+    // "Amélie" two ways, via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_equivalence
+    std::u16string nfc16(u"\u0041\u006d\u00e9\u006c\u0069\u0065");
+    std::u16string nfd16(u"\u0041\u006d\u0065\u0301\u006c\u0069\u0065");
+    EXPECT_NE(nfc16, nfd16);
+
+    std::string nfc8 = UTF8FromUTF16(nfc16);
+    std::string nfd8 = UTF8FromUTF16(nfd16);
+    EXPECT_NE(nfc8, nfd8);
+
+    EXPECT_EQ(nfc8, NormalizeUTF8(nfc8)); // nfc is already normalized
+    EXPECT_EQ(nfc8, NormalizeUTF8(nfd8)); // normalizing nfd should make it equal nfc
+}